Konda Surekha's exit from Revanth Reddy's cabinet has reopened an old question: can a BC leader ever build independent power in a Congress still run by Reddys
Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has flexed his political muscle, sacking Forest and Endowments Minister Konda Surekha, a prominent OBC leader and five-time MLA, with the backing of the Congress high command. The move surprised many, as no one expected the party leadership to let Revanth sack an influential backwards-caste face in the state.
Peeved by personal remarks made by her daughter, Konda Sushmita, Revanth seems to have decided to show Surekha the door, using the pretext that her daughter’s remarks against him could not have been made without her mother’s consent. But this is not merely a story about a minister being sacked because of her daughter’s remarks.
Revanth targets Konda stronghold
Sushmita’s harsh statement was a reaction to Revanth Reddy’s public announcement that former TDP leader Revuri Prakash Reddy would be the candidate for the Parkal Assembly constituency, which the Konda family claims as its stronghold. The announcement at a public meeting dealt a blow to the Konda couple's image, as they want to field their daughter in the 2028 elections. This is being viewed as an attempt to wrest the constituency from the family and weaken it politically in the erstwhile Warangal district.
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Is Revanth Reddy using Parkal to dismantle an independent political base of a BC woman leader who has acquired influence in the Warangal region?
Revanth Reddy, who switched from the TDP to the Congress in 2017, rose rapidly through the party ranks to become chief minister in 2023, much against the wishes of the Congress old guard. It is often said that, to consolidate his position, Revanth began empowering his former TDP colleagues who had joined the Congress with him or followed him later.
In the process, ignoring Konda Surekha’s plea that the Parkal constituency should be left for her daughter, he made a public appeal to the people to ensure Revuri’s victory in the 2028 elections. The move triggered a sharp backlash. Sushmita, an aspiring young woman, saw it as a humiliation of her family.
Caste tensions fuel political storm
Sensing the possibility of Surekha’s dismissal being portrayed as an OBC-versus-Reddy clash, Revanth sought to control the damage by appointing three Backward Caste women as chairpersons of various organisations.
To defend the argument that the minister's sacking had nothing to do with caste, Revanth also removed Dr G Chinna Reddy, a respected Reddy rebel, from the State Planning Board.
However, what created the political storm was the dismissal of Surekha from the cabinet. Surekha is the only OBC woman leader who has carved out her own space in Telangana politics. Hailing from a middle-class family with no political connections, she represents two prominent castes: Padmasali (weavers) from her side and Munnuru Kapu from her husband’s side.
Surekha carves her own space
Surekha’s political journey began in 1995, when she was elected as a Mandal Parishad member. She went on to win Assembly elections in 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2023. She lost a by-election in 2012 as a YSR Congress candidate in undivided Andhra Pradesh and the 2018 Telangana Assembly election, but made a comeback in 2023. Her electoral record makes her one of the rare OBC women leaders to have built an independent political base in Telangana over nearly three decades.
Surekha is a rare phenomenon in Telugu politics, which has not produced any tall OBC woman leader since 1956, when Andhra Pradesh was formed by combining the Andhra and Hyderabad states.
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From the days of stalwarts such as Konda Lakshman Bapuji, Gouthu Latchanna, Praggada Kotaiah, P Shiv Shankar, T Bala Goud, C Jagannatham, G Raja Ram and others who were born before Independence, all political parties have produced many BC leaders. But, barring one or two families, none of them could carve out territories of their own like the Reddys and Velamas.
What is striking is the absence of any woman leader who established herself in her own right in the entire period beginning in 1956. This gap was filled by Konda Surekha, who was identified and groomed by none other than then Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy.
YSR used caste diversity to build a broader Congress coalition. His two cabinets, formed in 2004 and 2009, were a spectrum of all castes. Street-smart Konda Surekha was one among them, and she soon emerged as an effective and articulate minister from Warangal district.
Revanth’s battle for control
Revanth may be using political consolidation to prevent competing centres of influence from emerging within the party. A party leader who did not want to be quoted said that, despite his pre-eminent position, Revanth does not want to allow the Konda family to hold sway over Warangal right under his nose.
According to analyst Dr Sangisetty Srinivas, attempts to weaken Surekha began much before her daughter’s remarks against the chief minister.
“Dismantling Surekha’s territory seems to be the sole motive. Allowing the erstwhile Warangal district to become the base of an independent BC woman leader is not good for the ambitious chief minister, who has repeatedly vowed to continue as CM for 10 years,” Srinivas told The Federal.
In the Telugu states, the Congress has always been seen as a party of Reddys. Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi tried to make the Congress less dependent on this well-knit caste by encouraging leaders from other castes. Sonia Gandhi, on the other hand, saw the influential Reddy caste as an antidote to the dominance of the Kamma and Velama castes, and the strategy proved correct.
A test of political power
In 2004, after a 10-year break, YS Rajasekhar Reddy led the Congress to power in the combined state, defeating the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). In 2023, in Telangana, Revanth Reddy did the same by crushing the BRS.
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“Given this reality, when the party has to choose between a powerful and resourceful Reddy CM and a BC leader, it would naturally go with a Reddy,” said Chalasani Narendra, a veteran journalist from Hyderabad.
The Surekha episode, which looks like a feud between a minister and chief minister, raises an old question in Telangana politics: can a BC leader, particularly a woman, build an independent political territory within a party traditionally dominated by powerful land-owning castes?
Surekha may have lost her cabinet position, but that is only one measure of political power. If her political base holds, Revanth’s attempt to weaken her could produce a very different result.
(The Federal seeks to present views and opinions from all sides of the spectrum. The information, ideas or opinions in the articles are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Federal.)
