HYDERABAD: Calling for a visible change in the functioning of the government, Legislative Council Chairman Gutha Sukender Reddy said on Saturday that the matter concerning Endowments Minister Konda Surekha should be addressed as “allowing it to fester would not help the government”. He said there could be two options — either drop Surekha from the Cabinet or reshuffle the Cabinet.
There was also a broader message in Sukender Reddy’s remarks. Much more needed to be done for the people, he said, stressing that welfare benefits should reach genuine beneficiaries. In an informal interaction with the media at his chamber in the Council, he suggested that the distribution of freebies be reduced and welfare support be better targeted at those who were genuinely eligible.
With the government approaching three years in office, Sukender Reddy felt the time was right for a Cabinet reshuffle. Such a move, he said, could bring “new energy” into the government while also helping address dissatisfaction among leaders. The other challenge, he said, was within the Congress itself, where groupism and internal differences needed to be contained. Party discipline was important, he said, and leaders had to work together and fight collectively. In politics, as the saying goes, too many cooks can make the broth harder to manage.
The reference to senior Congress leader G Chinna Reddy brought the party’s internal equations into sharper focus. Sukender Reddy said the party had given him a good opportunity but felt that making critical remarks about the party was not appropriate. There were “so many windows” in the Congress, he said, making it difficult to know which window each leader was operating from — an apparent reference to the different groups within the party.
He also pointed to another vulnerability for the government: leaks from within the administration. Such leaks, he said, were damaging its image, and needed to be controlled. Sukender Reddy, however, was clear that the chief minister should have room to govern. Describing Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy as a young and energetic leader, he said he should be allowed to work without unnecessary obstacles. Both the Union government and the Opposition in the state, he said, should not create obstacles for the government.
Much of the problem, he suggested, could also be addressed within the administration. Government officials needed to change their approach and improve their functioning, he said, arguing that this would help prevent the government from earning a bad reputation. He again called for leakages in the administration to be controlled.
The welfare side of the government, meanwhile, remained another area where Sukender Reddy felt more needed to be done. He said Telangana movement activists required greater support and suggested increasing assistance under Kalyana Lakshmi. He also called for higher Rythu Bharosa support for farmers and said welfare schemes should be strengthened for genuine beneficiaries. Pensions, too, should be increased, he said, while unnecessary freebies were reduced. Sukender Reddy maintained that the Congress government was continuing all welfare schemes except the KCR Kit scheme.
On the political mood outside and inside the party, he drew a distinction. The Congress, Sukender Reddy said, did not face a negative perception among the common public, but there was dissatisfaction among the party cadre. The leadership needed to address these concerns and maintain a balance.
He also turned to the contentious issue of Section 22-A lands, saying there had been more controversies during the previous BRS regime. The government had undertaken an exercise through the Bhu Bharati initiative, he said, but problems relating to 22-A lands continued to surface. “22-A should be scrapped. Otherwise, the government will continue to get a bad name,” he said.