How to keep friends close, rivals closer: Telangana CM Revanth Reddy sets a template for office

Three months after taking charge as the Telangana Chief Minister, A Revanth Reddy, 56, seems to be stepping up his government’s bid to implement various guarantees and schemes — which the Congress pledged in its election manifesto — and launch several development projects.

As part of this exercise, CM Revanth, who also continues to be the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president, is adopting a bipartisan approach, connecting with even the principal Opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) while also reaching out to other Opposition parties such as the BJP and the AIMIM.

When he took over as the TPCC chief in June 2021, Revanth was accused by his detractors within and outside the Congress of being “autocratic and unamiable”, even though his supporters maintain that he has always been a “friendly person”. However, now that he needs support from various quarters, ranging from the BJP-ruled Centre to the Opposition camps in the state, Revanth, in a tricky balancing act, is extending his hand of friendship to everyone.

According to sources, Revanth believes that now that the elections are over, despite the fact that they were fought on competing ideologies and policies of different parties, the leaders should join hands to ensure all-round development of the state instead of perpetuating their rivalries.

On March 4, Revanth Reddy flew to Adilabad to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi – who had arrived to dedicate to the nation several development projects and lay the foundation stone for some new projects – to greet and welcome him. A contrast was drawn to how his predecessor and BRS chief, K Chandrashekar Rao, avoided attending events with the PM.

Then, referring to Modi at the event, Revanth, speaking in Hindi,