The Revanth Reddy government has the Bharat Rashtra Samiti cornered over at least four cases, not giving the party led by K Chandrasekhar Rao, or KCR, a breather to plan, regroup, or organise itself after successive electoral losses. This has led the Opposition party on the backfoot, keeping it always on the defensive and unable to strategise to counter the Congress.
The BRS, according to party insiders, is being worn down with cases and investigations on multiple fronts. The troubles have affected KCR’s own family, with the party’s working president and second-in-command, K T Rama Rao, popularly known as KTR, embroiled in a Formula-E case, while a judicial inquiry into alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project blamed KCR for damage to the Medigada reservoir. On top of this, the BRS leadership is also under the scanner in the alleged phone tapping case, including KTR and MLA and former minister T Harish Rao. The latest to receive a notice in the case is former MP and KCR’s nephew and close aide Joginipally Santosh Kumar, whom the police have summoned for questioning.
Another confrontation that is developing between the BRS and the Congress is related to the Singareni Colliery. After Deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka was accused of influencing the Singareni contracts, he turned the tables by seeking a probe into all the contracts awarded since 2014, thus putting the BRS government under the spotlight.
Several BRS leaders said it was difficult to concentrate on party activities when leaders are always with their legal teams, not knowing who is next. “The heat is being kept up on BRS leaders as a diversionary tactic of the Congress government. Next is Singareni Collieries. It affects party activities, but we have to carry on,” said former minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav, a close aide of KCR.
KTR and his cousin Harish Rao spent days with legal teams preparing to appear as witnesses in the alleged phone-tapping case. “The Congress government has resorted to ‘predictive politics’, a pre-planned script of harassment. This phone-tapping case is not a quest for justice; it is a malicious witch hunt designed to target the BRS leadership and assassinate their character. It is a sham investigation intended to manufacture fear,’’ said BRS MLC Dr Sravan Dasoju.
Several BRS leaders suggested the party would have fared much better in the gram panchayat polls last December if the leadership were not embroiled in cases. It would have allowed them to focus on the three-phase elections in which 12,702 out of 12,728 gram panchayats in 31 of 33 districts voted. Congress-backed sarpanch candidates won in 7,527 panchayats and party rebels won in another 808 panchayats, winning a total of 8,335 panchayats, 66%. The BRS won 3,511 seats while the BJP bagged 710 seats.
“The real story is that the BRS slipped to third place in many places behind the BJP, indicating that rural areas are not getting that much attention,’’ said a BRS leader.
But at places where a strong BRS leader was visible, the party fared better. In the Adilabad Assembly constituency with 116 gram panchayats, the Congress won 56, the BJP 38, and the BRS only 22. However, in Siddipet, represented by T Harish Rao, and Sircilla, represented by KTR, the BRS won 78 of the 91 gram panchayats and 60 of 117 gram panchayats, respectively. Sources said a full-fledged meeting of BRS leadership for a thorough analysis had yet to take place.
Amid all this, the government on Tuesday announced elections to urban local bodies in the state. While polling is on February 11, votes will be counted on February 13.
Asked about the BRS’s allegations, Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka said the law would take its own course. “The investigations were taken up only after irregularities or wrongdoings were found in these cases. It does not matter who the person is or which party one belongs to. They will have to face the law. The BRS is indulging in propaganda that they are being targeted,” he said.
Minister Jupally Krishna Rao said phone tapping was a serious offence. “To call the case a political vendetta is wrong. The investigation has been ordered to find out who was responsible and fix accountability,’’ he said.
What are the four cases?
Formula E: Hyderabad hosted the Formula E race in 2023. The BRS’s troubles began with the Anti-Corruption Bureau booking KTR in December that year over the alleged transfer of Rs 45 crore to Formula-E Organisers (FOE) that February, when he was minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development. The FIR was registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act as well as under IPC Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).
Medigadda Barrage: In March 2024, the Revanth government constituted a judicial commission of inquiry headed by former Supreme Court judge, Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, to “enquire into the negligence, irregularities and lacunae in planning, designing and construction” of the Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla Barrages of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP).
KCR deposed before the commission for 50 minutes in June 2025 after weeks of preparation and consulting with legal teams. In its report, the commission held the former CM “directly and also vicariously accountable for the irregularities and the illegalities in planning, construction, completion, operation and maintenance of the three barrages”. His “involvement and directions minutely… is the cause and result of irregularities and the cause of distress to these three barrages”, it said.
Phone tapping case: The BRS found itself in the thick of a controversy after the Congress government accused the BRS administration of snooping on rivals and conspiring to ensure a BRS victory for the third time in Telangana. A case has been filed against Harish Rao for criminal conspiracy, extortion, criminal breach of trust, criminal intimidation, and under Section 66 of the IT Act. The SIT set up to probe this has questioned both KTR and Rao for seven hours each.
Singareni Collieries: Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka was accused of influencing the awarding of contracts in the Naini area coal block of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL). He is alleged to have asked to tweak tender qualification rules to favour one company. The minister, however, has denied the allegations and offered to order a probe into all the contracts related to SCCL since 2014, which will put most of the tenders during the BRS government’s tenure under scrutiny.
The Revanth Reddy government has the Bharat Rashtra Samiti cornered over at least four cases. (Express Photo/Amit Mehra) 
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