The dismissal of Konda Surekha from the Telangana Cabinet at the behest of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has dealt a major blow to her political plans, with there appearing to be little support for her from other parties.

Surekha’s daughter, Konda Susmitha Patel, who had expected strong backing from leaders within the Congress, was particularly upset over the latest developments.

With no senior leader coming to Surekha’s rescue, Susmitha cried foul and broke down during media interviews, expressing anguish over the Congress high command’s decision to remove her mother from the Cabinet. She alleged that Surekha had been made a political scapegoat.

She questioned why she had been targeted politically.

“If I speak, will my mother be made the scapegoat?” she asked emotionally.

Susmitha said she was unable to come to terms with the developments and described her mother as a sincere politician who had always focused on her work.

According to Susmitha, Konda Surekha had risen from the level of an MPP through years of political struggle and grassroots work to become a prominent public representative.

She maintained that there had been no major wrongdoing in the department handled by her mother and argued that removing her from the Cabinet was therefore unjustified.

Susmitha said the decision had deeply affected her and claimed that she had been unable to eat or sleep properly in recent days because of the emotional distress caused by the episode.

She described the action as politically motivated and alleged that her mother had been subjected to personal targeting.

Susmitha alleged that Revanth Reddy had harboured a personal grievance against her mother from the beginning and that the dismissal was the result of that animosity.

She insisted that her earlier statements were directed at an individual and his political conduct and were not intended as an attack on the Congress party. She said she had not made any remarks against Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi or Sonia Gandhi.

She also alleged that deliberate misinformation had been spread about her family before the Congress high command and described the treatment of her mother as particularly unfair because she was a senior woman leader from the Backward Classes.

Susmitha vowed to fight for her mother’s dignity and said she would not allow the episode to be forgotten.

Videos of her emotional interviews, in which she is seen crying while speaking about her mother, have since circulated widely on social media.

The episode, however, has also taken on a broader political dimension.

While Susmitha’s emotional statements have focused on her mother’s dismissal and alleged political victimisation, critics of the Konda family argue that the controversy cannot be viewed in isolation from the wider political confrontation within the Telangana Congress.

Questions have also been raised over the political role played by Susmitha and the involvement of the Konda family in the developments that preceded the Cabinet action.

There are also allegations within political circles about attempts to build internal opposition to Revanth Reddy and about support extended to such efforts by sections within the ruling party.

The Chief Minister’s decision to act against Konda Surekha is therefore being interpreted in sharply different ways by rival factions — her supporters describing it as political retaliation, while her opponents view it as part of a broader attempt to contain internal dissent.