Reddy, a senior figure from Jagtial, has long been at odds with Sanjay Kumar. Their rivalry dates back to the 2023 Assembly elections, when Sanjay — then with the BRS — defeated Reddy in Jagtial.
Published Oct 21, 2025 | 4:48 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 21, 2025 | 4:48 PM
T Jeevan Reddy.
Synopsis: Veteran Congress leader T Jeevan Reddy launched an attack on his own party leadership in Telangana for allegedly rewarding defectors from the BRS while sidelining long-time loyalists. Reddy’s outburst was directed at Jagtial MLA M Sanjay Kumar, a BRS defector who crossed over to Congress in June 2024.
The uneasy calm within the Telangana Congress has once again been shattered — this time, by veteran leader and former minister T Jeevan Reddy, who launched a blistering attack on his own party leadership for allegedly rewarding defectors from the BRS while sidelining long-time loyalists.
Reddy’s fresh outburst, laced with sarcasm and bitterness, was directed at Jagtial MLA M Sanjay Kumar, a BRS defector who crossed over to Congress in June 2024. The senior leader accused the party of bending over backwards to accommodate Sanjay in official programmes, even as committed workers who stood by the Congress through its lean years were being ignored.
Speaking on Deepavali day at a local gathering in the presence of Minister Adluri Laxman Kumar, Reddy didn’t hold back. “Will you only attend to the representations of those who migrated from other parties and ignore the loyal Congress workers?” he reportedly asked, before twisting the knife further.
“Are you listening to him — meaning Sanjay Kumar — because he has ten years of experience in looting the state? He doesn’t even have primary membership in the party yet!”
Later, addressing reporters, Reddy said he had been “completely marginalised” since the Congress came to power. “I have served this party for decades, but today, the newcomers — who opposed us not long ago — are the ones being honoured,” he lamented.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, 21 October, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President B Mahesh Kumar Goud sought to play down the incident.
He said, “Jeevan Reddy happens to be our senior leader. If he has any problem, let him contact Minister Adluri Lakshman Kumar. He will attend to them. The party will look into the issues that Jeevan Reddy has raised.”
Reddy, a senior figure from Jagtial, has long been at odds with Sanjay Kumar. Their rivalry dates back to the 2023 Assembly elections, when Sanjay — then with the BRS — defeated Reddy in Jagtial. When Sanjay defected to Congress barely six months later, Reddy saw it as both a personal humiliation and a political betrayal.
The leadership’s decision to induct Sanjay without even consulting him deepened the wound. Furious, Reddy threatened to resign from his MLC post, forcing senior leaders Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and D Sridhar Babu to step in and pacify him. The truce, however, was fragile and short-lived.
The relationship hit rock bottom after the murder of Reddy’s close aide, Maru Ganga Reddy, in October 2024 at Jabithapur village in Jagtial district. The 58-year-old Congress leader and former MPTC was ambushed and stabbed to death by an assailant later identified as Santosh.
Police cited “personal enmity” as the motive, but Jeevan Reddy alleged a political conspiracy, claiming that followers of Sanjay Kumar were behind the attack.
He staged a sit-in at the Jagtial Police Station, accusing officials of ignoring repeated warnings. “If the police had acted on our complaints, Ganga Reddy would still be alive,” he had said, calling it a fallout of the hostile environment created after Sanjay entered the party.
Reddy’s public dissent is symptomatic of a larger malaise within the Telangana Congress. Since coming to power in December 2023, the party has been steadily absorbing defectors from the BRS — ten MLAs by mid-2024 — a move that has angered many loyalists.
In a letter to the AICC last year, Jeevan Reddy had already sounded the alarm, warning that the “uncritical embrace of turncoats” could alienate genuine party workers and damage the Congress’s credibility.
The dissidence in the party, for various reasons, has been simmering with the old guard, like Jeevan Reddy, feeling marginalised as defectors gain prominence.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
