High political drama rocked the Telangana Congress after police reached the residence of minister Konda Surekha on Wednesday night to arrest her officer on special duty, N Sumanth, who was accused of corruption and subsequently dismissed.
The minister’s daughter, Sushmitha, who confronted the task force sleuths in plain clothes, alleged that their family was being targeted instead of fighting the BRS.
In an interesting turn of events, Chief Secretary K Ramakrishna Rao issued a memo directing the endowments department held by Surekha to hand over all the work, worth Rs100 crore related to the tribal shrine Sammaka Saralamma Jathara in Medaram, to the Department of Roads and Buildings (R&B).
According to Susmitha, irrigation minister Uttam Kumar Reddy had complained that Sumanth had threatened the representative of a company, Deccan Cements, based in Huzurnagar constituency, represented by irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, in order to extort money.
On 14 October, he was dismissed two months before the tenure of his appointment. Allegedly, there have been several complaints against him for threatening firms. Apart from endowments, Surekha also heads the forest and environment departments.
However, the task force sleuths who reached the minister’s residence could not show any warrant when confronted by her.
Eventually, Sumanth was taken away by her mother and minister Konda Surekha. Sushmitha even blamed Chief Minister Revanth Reddy for targeting her mother. Sushmitha alleged that when claims were being made that backward classes would get preference, the Reddy community was gunning for those belonging to the BC community.
In the evening, Konda Surekha, along with her daughter, met Meenakshi Natarajan, the AICC in-charge, at her residence to discuss the political developments.
Meanwhile, Warangal Police has issued a statement saying reports stating that security at her residence has been withdrawn were completely false.
The BJP and the BRS have also alleged that Konda Surekha and her family’s statements exposed the extortion racket. Telangana BJP’s official handle posted Sushmitha’s video stating “Congress extortion empire busted in Telangana.”