Tension gripped as Minister Surekha and her daughter confronted the police, objecting to their late-night presence at their residence and questioning their authority to enter the premises.
Published Oct 16, 2025 | 10:04 AM ⚊ Updated Oct 16, 2025 | 10:04 AM
Minister Konda Surekha and her daughter Sushmitha Patel confronted the police
Synopsis: The ruling Congress in Telangana is witnessing an internal feud, exposing a fierce struggle over the alleged “sharing of spoils” in contract allocations and political turf. When police descended on the residence of Minister Konda Surekha to detain her former Officer on Special Duty Sumanth, she confronted the police and resisted the arrest.
“You vote, we loot,” an unspoken slogan in Telangana politics seems to have taken a new twist with ministers resorting to ugly public battles over power, contracts and control.
The ruling Congress in Telangana is now witnessing an internal feud that has burst into the open, exposing a fierce struggle over the alleged “sharing of spoils” in contract allocations and political turf.
The latest flashpoint occurred on Wednesday, 15 October, when police descended on the residence of Endowments and Environment Minister Konda Surekha in Jubilee Hills of Hyderabad to detain her former Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Sumanth, who has been acting as her aide.
Tension gripped the minister’s residence as Surekha and her daughter Sushmitha Patel confronted the police, objecting to their late-night presence and questioning their authority to enter the premises. Amid the heated exchange, the minister herself drove away with Sumanth in her car, defying the police who came to detain him.
The episode comes against the backdrop of a widening rift between Minister Surekha and Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, who also serves as the in-charge minister for Warangal district.
Surekha has accused Ponguleti of bypassing her authority and issuing ₹71 crore worth of work orders for the Sammakka–Saralamma Medaram Jatara infrastructure development in Warangal district to contractors loyal to him.
She is said to have orally complained to Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President B Mahesh Kumar Goud and conveyed her displeasure to the high command about Ponguleti’s “overbearing interference” in her department’s affairs as well as in her home district’s developmental works.
Barely two days after her complaint, the Telangana Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) abruptly terminated the services of Sumanth, who had been serving as OSD to the minister on contract until December.
His removal reportedly followed a complaint that he had threatened representatives of Deccan Cements in Huzurnagar in Nalgonda district at gunpoint while demanding money — a case that has since been formally registered.
When police later learned that Sumanth was present at the minister’s residence, a Task Force team arrived in plain clothes on Wednesday night to detain him for questioning.
The police, however, were met with stiff resistance. Surekha and her daughter blocked their entry and demanded to know who authorised the “raid” and why officers had arrived in civilian clothes at that hour.
An agitated Sushmitha demanded, “Are we under a Congress government or someone else’s? Who gave you permission to come here at midnight? Show us one piece of evidence that Sumanth threatened anyone. You can’t just walk into a minister’s house and take away whoever you want.”
Police sources said the case was filed based on a complaint made by another minister, following allegations that Sumanth had threatened Deccan Cements representatives in Nalgonda district, warning them that the Pollution Control Board would take punitive action against their company if they failed to pay up.
The company is said to have alerted a Nalgonda minister, who brought the issue to the notice of the Chief Minister, prompting him to direct that a formal complaint be filed with the police.
Visibly angry, Sushmitha accused Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s close aides of targeting their family because they belong to the Backward Classes (BC) community.
“All the Reddys around the Chief Minister have ganged up against us. Why no action against those close to the chief minister, like Faheem? But they come after an innocent man like Sumanth,” she said, further questioning why Revanth Reddy’s brothers, Tirupati Reddy and Kondal Reddy, were provided government gunmen.
The confrontation continued until midnight as television crews gathered outside the residence. Surekha eventually left the scene with Sumanth in her car and reportedly drove to Minister Ponnam Prabhakar’s residence before returning home later in the night.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Sushmitha alleged that the police were acting at the behest of political rivals.
“They filed a false case against Sumanth and sent the police to our house at midnight. Were they planning to arrest my mother, too? Why bring women police officers along? If they target Sumanth again, we will go to any extent,” she warned.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
