As he completes his first year in office Saturday, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has established himself as an aggressive face of the Congress who has sent out a signal that he is a strong leader despite the internal differences within the party. But he faces the challenge of delivering and continuing on the Congress's key election promises — a point the Opposition in the state has constantly harped on. The Reddy government claims it has waived off Rs 18,000 crore worth of farm loans in its first month of coming to power and says it created 55,000 government jobs in 2023. As per government estimates, Rs 3,500 crore has been spent under the Mahalakshmi scheme to facilitate free bus travel for women and provide gas cylinders at Rs 500 to 42 lakh women. Under the Gruha Jyothi scheme, state officials say, the Congress government under Reddy has provided free power of up to 200 units to eligible households. But the Opposition disputes these figures. “Revanth Reddy is simply lying to the people of Telangana. He is deriving pleasure by duping people and not fulfilling his promises to the people,” Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader Sravan Dasoju says, asking how Reddy would continue on his promises considering the financial health of the state. Dasoju questions Reddy on the pre-poll election promise of two lakh jobs and adds, “Even half of the farmers have not benefited from farm loan waivers. Women have not got the promised Rs 2,500 per month guarantee. What about the Rs 4,000 old-age pension?" The Finance Department of the Telangana government claims it has brought down Telangana’s debt burden by repaying Rs 64,516 crore loans and raising Rs 52,118 crore in loans. But despite the heat on Reddy, leaders and political observers say the CM has won the “perception game” and “comes across as the one in command”. In the last year, Reddy is also seen as having built a close relationship with the party high command, particularly Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and can be seen more and more in New Delhi. He is also campaigning for the party in other states. In the run-up to the Maharashtra elections, Reddy campaigned in the Vidarbha region. At the state level, he seems to be sending out a confident message. On Thursday, senior BRS leader T Harish Rao was taken into preventive custody by the Hyderabad police for allegedly obstructing officers who were going to arrest BRS MLA P Kaushik Reddy at his residence. This comes just days after Rao was booked in a case of alleged tapping. On a personal level, even his detractors concede that Reddy is a “strong orator”. “When it comes to political rhetoric, no one can equal Revanth Reddy,” a BRS leader said. With the BRS losing its momentum in the state, the space has opened up for the BJP in Telangana. This is also reflected in Reddy’s rhetoric, said a BJP leader. “He considers the BJP a threat and has been lashing out at the party unlike the previous government under K Chandrashekar Rao,” another BJP leader said. Another political observer, Gali Nagaraju, says his opening up of the CM’s official residence — Pragathi Bhawan — to the public after a decade of its closure under predecessor K Chandrashekar Rao sent out a positive signal right at the start of his government. “The people saw Revanth Reddy as an approachable CM unlike KCR,” said Nagaraju. Reddy came to power in December 2023 after leading the Congress to victory, winning 64 of the 119 seats. Despite being a relatively late entrant into the party — he joined the Congress only in 2017 — and several claimants to the CM chair, he was picked for the top post.
