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BRS govt tapped Tripura Governor’s phone, say police: Who is N Indrasena Reddy?

The face of BJP in undivided Andhra Pradesh, Reddy made a name for himself by defeating Congress heavyweights at the start of his political career.

Reddy’s foray into politics began in the 1970s during his student days at Osmania University in Hyderabad. (Photo: Facebook/ Indrasena Reddy Nallu Bjp)

The case of alleged illegal phone tapping in Telangana has seen a new twist after the police claimed on Saturday that the previous K Chandrashekar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government tapped the phone of current Tripura Governor N Indrasena Reddy. A former three-time MLA who was in the BJP, Reddy was the face of the BJP in the undivided state of Andhra Pradesh.

The illegal phone tapping case pertains to allegations that officers of Telangana’s Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) tapped telephones on the behest of the leaders of the BRS between 2018 and 2023, when it was voted out of power. Three former senior officers have been arrested in connection with the case, while lookout circulars have been issued against two others, including the former SIB chief Prabhakar Rao.

The BRS claimed the accusations were part of a political vendetta. Party spokesperson Dasoju Sravan questioned the timing of the allegations. “It has been 13-14 months since the Congress assumed power in the state. Why are such allegations coming now? They seem to be politically motivated and an attempt to divert people’s attention from real issues. They need to answer why the police have woken up now. These selective accusations indicate that the police have become a puppet in the hands of the government, especially Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.”

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The Congress and the BJP have not yet commented on the latest allegations.

Reddy’s foray into politics began in the 1970s during his student days at Osmania University in Hyderabad, where he served as the state secretary of the Yuva Janata, the Janata Dal’s youth wing.

“It was during this time that his interest in politics peaked. Following the murder of George Reddy on the university campus in 1973, he was attacked by a member of the Radical Students Union (a frontal organisation for the Naxals). He was stabbed three times but survived the attack. There was no looking back for him after that,” said a close aide. In the 1980s, Reddy went to serve as the state president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the BJP’s youth wing.

Reddy made a splash in his electoral debut in the 1983 Assembly elections from Malakpet in Hyderabad by defeating then state Home Minister Kandala Prabhakar Reddy of the Congress. Two years later, he yet again emerged as a giant killer and defeated former Andhra CM Nadendla Bhaskara Reddy from the same constituency. Indrasena won the seat for the third time in 1999, garnering more than 50% of the votes. He was subsequently appointed the party’s floor leader in the Assembly.

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In the 1990s, he survived yet another murder attempt when his rivals attempted to push him off the balcony of his house.

In 2003, the BJP appointed Indrasena its state president, a position he held till 2007 before being replaced by former Union Minister and current Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya.

Though successful in state politics, he came up short in his efforts to make a successful move to the national arena. He lost both the Lok Sabha elections he contested. In 2009, lost to the CPI’s Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy in Nalgonda by more than 50,000 votes. Five years later, he finished third behind the BRS (then the TRS) and Congress in Bhongir.

In 2014, Indrasena was appointed the BJP’s national secretary and in 2020 was made a special invitee to the party’s national executive. He was appointed to the Raj Bhavan in Tripura in October 2023.