The TPCC has asked the MLC to explain why action should not be taken against him for his intemperate comments on the caste census which the Congress government has conducted.
Published Feb 07, 2025 | 8:07 PM ⚊ Updated Feb 07, 2025 | 8:07 PM
Teenmar Mallanna with Revanth Reddy. (File photo/X)
Synopsis: Congress MLC Teenmar Mallanna’s scathing attack on the government and the Reddy community has not gone down well with the party. The MLC, however, remained defiant even after a show-cause notice was issued to him, and claimed that he was fighting for the backward classes. The Reddys, meanwhile, lodged several police complaints against the MLC for his derogatory comments.
Congress MLC Teenmar Mallanna, aka Chintapandu Naveen Kumar, remained defiant on Friday, 7 February, after the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) issued a show-cause notice to him.
The TPCC has asked the MLC to explain why action should not be taken against him for his intemperate comments on the caste census which the Congress government has conducted.
Reacting sharply to the show-cause notice, Mallanna said, “Whom are you giving notice? If you give notice, it is as good as giving one to the BCs (backward classes) on whose behalf I am fighting.”
Mallanna said that the caste survey was skewed and in favor of the upper castes. “The report showed the BC population less and that of the other castes (OCs) as more. I am only trying to fight for justice for the BCs. I want the party to work in line with party top brass Rahul Gandhi’s vision of bringing out a caste census at the national level to do justice to the BCs.”
The MLC said that he would not go on his knees before anyone because a show-cause notice was served and that no one could bully him.
“The TPCC should issue show-cause notices to those who are responsible for bringing out the caste census which is biased against the BCs. Just because the party has given a show-cause notice, it is not going to silence me or the BCs. If I have to reply to the notice, I would first discuss it with the representatives of the BC organisations and if they want, then I would do accordingly,” he said.
Taking serious exception to Mallanna’s criticism of the caste survey report, and setting fire to it, and also for launching a tirade against the Reddy community in the state, the party issued a notice to him on Thursday.
G Chinna Reddy, chairman of the TPCC’s disciplinary action committee, in his show-cause notice asked the MLC to submit his explanation on or before 12 February, failing which, “strong action” will be initiated under the provisions of the Congress constitution.
In the notice, he said that though Mallanna was a member of the legislative council representing the Congress, he had violated the norms, guidelines, and procedures laid out in the constitution of the party.
“Everyone in the state has appreciated the efforts of the Congress government in bringing out the caste census and effecting sub-categorisation of the SCs, but you are trying to fulfill your agenda, keeping aside the party’s interests. The Congress party belongs to every individual irrespective of caste, region, and religion,” Reddy said.
He said the show-cause notice was being issued after receiving many representations, complaints, and memoranda from the party cadres as well as from the OBC associations for burning the caste census report, which hurt the sentiments of the BCs in Telangana.
After Mallanna used abusive language against the Reddy community at a public meeting in Warangal recently, the community leaders lodged police complaints in several districts seeking action against the MLC.
On Friday, 7 February, a delegation of Reddy community leaders lodged a complaint with the police in Adilabad. They alleged that Mallanna was trying to drive a wedge between the BCs and Reddys and that the attempt should be nipped at the bud. At the state level, Reddy association leaders submitted a memorandum to the DGP in Hyderabad recently.
The party leaders, mainly those belonging to the Reddy community, are up in arms against Mallanna as he has turned into a compulsive Reddy-baiter, which led them to think that he was trying to consolidate BCs in his favor by targeting Reddys.
Mallanna once said that A Revanth Reddy would be the last OC chief minister of the state, apparently in an attempt to position himself as the next chief minister of the state.
Though he remained a compulsive gadfly for the Congress party, so far no action has been taken against him. The degree of filthiness he used while castigating the Reddys at the Warangal meeting and burning the copies of the caste census were the last straw.
The party, after taking approval from the chief minister on Thursday, issued the show-cause notice to him.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
