Surprising as it may sound, an opinion article written by senior BRS leader and former Telangana minister T Harish Rao on the edit page of Telugu daily Velugu has triggered a major debate in...
Surprising as it may sound, an opinion article written by senior BRS leader and former Telangana minister T Harish Rao on the edit page of Telugu daily Velugu has triggered a major debate in political and media circles.
Harish Rao’s article criticised the condition of Singareni Collieries Company Limited and questioned the policies of the Congress government led by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.
What drew particular attention was the fact that Velugu is owned by Telangana minister G Vivek Venkataswamy, whose political base is also in the Singareni coal belt.
Vivek Venkataswamy is a minister in the Congress government, while his son Vamshi Krishna is a Congress MP.
Analysts say that since Vivek Venkataswamy is both a Cabinet minister and a senior Congress leader from the Singareni region, he would normally be expected to counter Harish Rao’s criticism, rather than provide space for it in his family’s newspaper.
“What message Vivek has sent to the Congress party by carrying an anti-Revanth Reddy article in his own daily remains a mystery, as he is known to be a loyal Congress leader and pro-Revanth Reddy,” an analyst said.
Some say the publication of the article could be seen as an example of journalistic impartiality and editorial openness.
“It is also surprising that Harish Rao chose Velugu, owned by a Congress minister, to express his views against the Congress government,” another analyst said.
This is a strange development at a time when media houses are largely politically aligned.
One cannot imagine an article by a TDP leader, let alone a minister, being carried by Sakshi, owned by YSRCP president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Similarly, it is difficult to imagine a pro-TDP paper like Andhra Jyothy publishing an article written by a YSRCP leader.
“Let us see whether Namasthe Telangana, owned by BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, carries any article written by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy,” the analyst remarked.
A 51-year-old man died by suicide allegedly due to fear of his name being deleted in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls…
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLA and former Telangana minister T Harish Rao on Saturday demanded that the Telangana government disclose the details of the recent…
Donald Trump has thanked India after a road in Hyderabad was named after him, calling it a rare honour for a US President. In a…