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Published Nov 26, 2025 | 11:20 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 26, 2025 | 11:20 AM
Telangana Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy. Credit: www.facebook.com/uttamkumarreddy
In the never-dull world of Telangana politics, Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy set the gossip mill spinning faster than a lift-irrigation pump. And all it took was one cheeky remark: he is the senior-most legislator in the state, next only to K Chandrashekar Rao.
Now, a simple statement of seniority wouldn’t usually raise eyebrows. But this is politics, where even a casual cough can trigger speculation. And Uttam didn’t stop at seniority. He went one step further and gently, ever so gently, nudged the comparison needle in his favour.
With a smile that suggested he knew exactly what he was doing, he reminded everyone that while he won six Assembly elections, his record comes with a shiny badge: he won all of them on the Congress ticket.
He sounded sounding like a student proudly flashing his perfect-attendance certificate. But KCR, on the other hand, has won on different party tickets but there is yet no one to beat his record in winning: he won assembly elections nine times including by elections though he buffered a blip in Kamareddy in 2023.
It was enough. Within minutes, the political rumour factory whirred into top gear. If politics had a magic mirror — the kind Snow White would instantly recognise — Uttam seemed to be asking it: “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most eligible of all?”
And the mirror may have tilted ever so slightly and shown him his own reflection.
This entire episode played out during an informal chat with journalists, the kind where ministers loosen their collars, sip tea, and sometimes forget that every casual remark is a headline waiting to happen. Uttam appeared to be speaking his mind — and perhaps a bit of his ambition too.
And why not? After all, politics is half public service and half public perception. A little well-timed reminder about one’s track record never hurts. Especially when the state is bubbling with conversations about who stands where in the Congress hierarchy, who deserves what, and who might be eyeing which future chair.
Of course, Uttam didn’t explicitly say anything about “that” position — the one everyone whispers about but never names. But he didn’t need to. He simply tossed a pebble into the political pond and watched the ripples spread.
