The contract in question relates to the excavation of coal from the Naini coal block in Odisha, owned by SCCL, over a 25-year period, at an estimated cost of around ₹1,200 crore a year.
Published Jan 18, 2026 | 7:20 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 18, 2026 | 7:20 PM
Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Mallu Vikramarka addresses a press conference on Sunday.
Synopsis: Murky goings-on within the ruling Congress in Telangana came into the open on Sunday, when the saga surrounding the arrest of NTV journalists took a fresh turn with the abrupt cancellation of a ₹30,000 crore coal tender by Singareni Collieries Company Ltd. NTV owner Narendra Chowdhary and Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Mallu Vikramarka have been accused of triggering the initial controversy in an attempt to steer the SCCL contract towards a company belonging to Chowdhary’s family.
The internecine feud within the ruling Congress in Telangana came into the open on Sunday, 18 January, even as the arrest of journalists from a leading Telugu television channel lifted the lid on a potentially massive scandal at Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL), the jewel among Telangana’s public sector undertakings.
The chain of events culminated in the cancellation of one of the largest tenders floated by SCCL, worth ₹30,000 crore. The decision was announced by Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Mallu Vikramarka, the man at the centre of the controversy, who also holds the Finance and Energy portfolios.
Here is a quick recap: On 14 January, journalists from the Telugu channel NTV were arrested by the Hyderabad Police for airing a story that alleged an illicit relationship between a minister and an IAS officer. Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, later speaking to the media, alleged his character was being assassinated, linking himself to the scurrilous report.
South First reported at the time that the story was a product of infighting among Cabinet colleagues, with rival camps using different media organisations to target and defame one another.
The twist came on Sunday morning when the Telugu daily Andhra Jyothi published a column linking the arrests to an alleged large-scale scam in SCCL.
According to V Radhakrishna, the proprietor-journalist who wrote the piece, Vikramarka and NTV owner Narendra Chowdhary conspired to steer the SCCL contract towards a company belonging to Chowdhary’s family by inserting certain conditions that effectively eliminated competing bidders.
Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, whose brother has long been in the infrastructure business, insisted that all eligible companies be allowed to bid for the project. Fearing that this would derail their plans, the Vikramarka-Chowdhary duo allegedly planted the story against Komati Reddy through NTV, the Andhra Jyothi column claimed.
The contract in question relates to the excavation of coal from the Naini coal block in Odisha, owned by SCCL, over a 25-year period, at an estimated cost of around ₹1,200 crore a year.
Among media owners, Radhakrishna is considered the closest to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, and many believe that any major government-related story published in the newspaper carries sanction from the highest level.
The question, therefore, is at whose behest Radhakrishna has targeted Vikramarka and another media house, particularly when there was already speculation that the chief minister was not in favour of the tender process being allowed to go through.
Whether he has any other company in mind is a matter of speculation.
Hours after the column appeared in the morning edition, Vikramarka convened a hurried press conference, distanced himself from the tender process and, in the same breath, announced that, as the minister concerned, he had directed SCCL management to cancel the tender and initiate a fresh process.
He threatened to reveal, at a later stage, who might be behind the Andhra Jyothi column and said he would not allow anyone to plunder SCCL’s resources.
Yet, questions remain. Why was the tender cancelled if it had followed established procedures? More curiously, the minister revealed that no company has so far even submitted a bid.
How, then, does the question of favouring a particular company arise, especially when the stated ground for cancellation was the need to ensure transparency?
Authoritative sources told South First that even before the tender was scrapped, SCCL’s “internal management” had decided that no deviation from tender norms would be permitted unless there were explicit instructions from the top.
Apart from the chairman-cum-managing director (CMD), SCCL has five directors: Electrical and Mechanical, Finance, Operations, Planning, and Personnel and Welfare. Together, the six constitute the top management and are responsible for all key decisions.
In fact, the minister himself claimed that SCCL management saw no need to cancel the tender on the grounds cited. So what exactly is being sought to be hidden by turning the clock back on the entire process?
Sources also told South First that several informal meetings were held at Vikramarka’s residence regarding the Naini block contract, involving top SCCL officials, including the then Acting CMD Balaram, an IRS officer who was on deputation to Singareni and has since returned to his parent cadre.
The NTV owner, too, was allegedly present at some of these meetings.
Historically, SCCL functioned as an autonomous entity, headed by a senior IAS officer as CMD, who reported to the chief minister when the need arose. Since the Congress came to power, however, SCCL has not had a full-time CMD, and no decision is said to be taken without the approval of the energy minister, according to sources.
After Balaram, SCCL is now headed by Krishna Bhaskar, an IAS officer holding additional charge, with his primary posting elsewhere.
Bhaskar is said to have been avoiding taking major decisions and attends office only intermittently.
The result: nearly 700 files awaiting his approval are pending. Coal transportation, a key function directly overseen by the chairman, has reportedly dropped from about 2.2 lakh tonnes daily to 1.8 lakh tonnes.
All told, power games within the Congress appear to have reached a peak with the arrest of journalists and the SCCL connection.
As if to soothe the “ruffled feelings” of his colleague Vikramarka and distance himself from the unfolding events, Revanth Reddy said at a public meeting later on Sunday that any allegations against his ministers or MLAs would indirectly affect his own image as head of the government.
Media houses, he advised, should therefore seek clarification before publishing reports against his ministers.
Interestingly, Radhakrishna went out of his way to convey that the chief minister had nothing to do with the entire episode. But the subtext is hard to miss.
He even suggested that the Special Investigation Team, comprising several IPS officers and constituted to investigate the NTV story, was set up without the chief minister’s knowledge.
How such a high-powered SIT could be constituted without the approval of the chief minister is a question for which there is no answer. Seen differently, are bureaucrats in this government empowered to take such consequential decisions without the top man being in the loop?
The chief minister has clearly won this round. Two ministers have been kept in check, and a channel owner shown his limits. Revanth has also declared that the coal block contract would be awarded only to experienced companies.
Speculation is now rife that senior IAS officer Navin Mittal, considered close to the chief minister, could be posted as the full-time CMD of SCCL.
Vikramarka, in the meantime, dropped enough hints to suggest a rift between the Congress old guard and those who came from outside.
“Radhakrishna is close to the Telugu Desam Party [TDP] and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. I do not know whose interests he is trying to promote by targeting an old, loyal Congressman like me,” Bhatti lamented at the presser on Sunday.
Incidentally, Revanth himself was a long-time TDP leader before joining the Congress some years ago and is known to enjoy a close equation with Chandrababu Naidu.
As an aside, NTV has turned against the TDP in Andhra Pradesh. So much so that its telecast has reportedly been blocked in parts of the State by the present dispensation there.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
