Over the past couple of days, tensions have escalated between MLAs Arikepudi Gandhi and Padi Kaushik Reddy. What began as a protest against Gandhi’s appointment as Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman has turned into a personal conflict between the two leaders.
In the heat of the moment, Padi Kaushik made a ‘settlers’ remark against Gandhi, which did not sit well with many people who have settled in Hyderabad.
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Calling Gandhi as an ‘outsider’ who came from Andhra to Hyderabad for livelihood, Kaushik claimed that he was born in Telangana and would take up Gandhi’s case.
Later, Kaushik clarified that his comments were not intended to target settlers from Andhra and recalled that even BRS chief K. Chandrashekar Rao has always pledged support for settlers in Hyderabad.
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Today, President KT Rama Rao also clarified that they mean no harm to those settled in Hyderabad, reminding people how they have been treated under the BRS government for the past 10 years.
Kaushik’s remarks sparked so much controversy that KTR had to step in and clarify the situation. Meanwhile, sources say that several BRS MLAs from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) region are unhappy with Kaushik’s comments.
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Andhra settlers played a significant role in BRS’s sweeping victory in most seats during the 2023 Assembly elections. However, BRS lost the elections and Congress came into power.
Meanwhile, some people believe that after losing power, a few leaders like Kaushik are trying to reignite the Telangana sentiment and create a divide between natives and settlers.
None of the BRS MLAs in the GHMC area, such as Talasani Srinivas Yadav, Vivekananda, Malla Reddy, or Padma Rao, have responded to Kaushik’s statements. They have remained silent throughout the Gandhi-Kaushik controversy. It seems they know that speaking against settlers in this debate could harm their vote bank, so they have chosen to stay quiet.
Meanwhile, it is also believed that reigniting the Andhra-Telangana divide could harm BRS’s chances in the upcoming GHMC el
