Hyderabad confidential: CM dodges flight chats, K Kavitha eyes the throne, Ghose panel gathers steam; what’s brewing in politics

HYDERABAD: The Telangana chief minister’s office has stopped making public the exact flight schedule of A Revanth Reddy ’s visits to New Delhi these days. From what we hear, several Congress leaders have been using the information to book tickets on the same flight so that they can corner Revanth for those two-and-a-half hours and force him to listen to his requests, pleas, demands… Although he does lend an ear to party leaders on terra firma, the leaders know that catching him on a flight is the only way to get those extra few minutes with him.

But, is pinning the chief minister down like this and irritating him the best way to get things done?Speech lost, Ramchander Rao goes extempore

Telangana BJP’s new chief N Ramchander Rao experienced a few tense moments during an event held in the suburbs to announce his elevation. He had a written speech ready, but in the rush and confusion of making last-minute arrangements, that crucial sheet of paper was misplaced. Rao later told confidantes that this turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

He spoke extempore and the crowd loved it. But the real challenge for Rao is to use the same innovative skills to get some misguided missiles within his own party to follow rules and shoot straight.Kancha Gachibowli row shakes up TGIICThe recent appointment of the 2013-batch IAS officer K Shashanka as the vice-chairman and managing director of Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC) is being seen as a move to shift E Vishnu Vardhan Reddy from the post.

A little birdie tells us that chief minister A Revanth Reddy took the decision following advice from some senior bureaucrats after the state govt came under fire from the Supreme Court in the Kancha Gachibowli land issue. Vishnu handled the development of the Kancha Gachibowli land at the University of Hyderabad. He landed in trouble when the Supreme Court stalled the development citing a threat to biodiversity. Shashanka’s appointment also helps with the Bharat Future City project.Ghose panel set to drop a few bombsAll eyes are on the PC Ghose panel probing the Kaleshwaram irrigation project. Its extended term of office ends on July 31. Sources said the panel is likely to submit its final report before its term ends. So far, more than 100 officials, engineers, and also former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, ex-ministers T Harish Rao and BJP MP Eatala Rajender have been questioned. Both KCR and Harish had held irrigation portfolios in the previous BRS govt tenure when the Kaleshwaram project was taken up. Eatala had served as finance minister in the BRS govt before joining BJP. The discussion in political circles is whether the panel’s findings will be made public, as the state is set to go for panchayat and municipal polls and by-elections to a couple of assembly constituencies. The Kaleshwaram controversy played a big role during the 2023 assembly elections. Whether parties can cash in on it in future elections remains to be seen.Kavitha playing the waiting game for her dreamsFollowing the political uproar surrounding her letter to BRS president, former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao was leaked, BRS MLC and Telangana Jagruti leader K Kavitha is openly expressing her political aspirations. In a recent Telugu podcast, she mentioned that she holds the dream of becoming chief minister some day. If it meant waiting a couple of decades, she was ready for it. Patience, of course, is a virtue.

But two decades can be a very long time in politics. Much can change in that extended timeframe.2 officers manage Sigachi tragedy, win heartsTwo young All India Service officers posted in Sangareddy were appreciated by the senior officers for their work in handling the aftermath of the Sigachi factory accident in which 46 died. IAS officer P Pravinya from the 2016 batch and IPS officer Paritosh Pankaj from the 2020 batch posted as collector and SP rose to the occasion and worked round the clock during the crisis.

Not just the senior officers, even some of the exhausted juniors acknowledged their young bosses’ patience in assisting families of the victims while coordinating with officials and senior political leaders.Tailpiece: Your lucky number can’t always save you, after allArrested Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) president A Jagan Mohan Rao is known to have told friends that ‘9’ is his lucky number. That ‘9’ was the number that secured his win in closely fought HCA elections in 2023. Jagan got 63 (6+3=9) votes and defeated his closest rival by just one vote. His villa number in a Gachibowli gated community is also 63. But as fate would have it, CID arrested him on July 9. Was this deliberate or by chance? The officers insist it was just a coincidence.