Congress Solves 22-A By Reclassifying the Explanation

Telangana’s Congress government has found the perfect administrative solution to the Section 22-A land mess: change the number, change the culprit and promise a permanent solution at a later date. The land remains where it was. Only the explanation keeps moving.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy says just 3.06 lakh acres of private land were covered by the prohibited list, with much of the rest belonging to government or forest departments. Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy told the Assembly that the list stood at 1,02,05,250 acres as of August 31, including 3,73,930 acres of private agricultural land. The government also says the total has fallen from 1,02,52,690 acres in December 2023. Telangana has now received a statistical reduction of 47,440 acres, which is excellent news for anyone whose property exists primarily in a spreadsheet.

Ponguleti apologised for genuine private properties being wrongly included, blamed revenue officials and then sent responsibility backwards to the BRS government. That is the Congress land policy in miniature: inherited problem, inherited culprit, current press conference. Harish Rao’s question — how many acres were added after Congress came to power, and why did registrations stop under the present government — was less theatrical and therefore more inconvenient. The reported answer was not a number but another tour of the past.

Revanth now says private patta land under prohibition fell from 7.91 lakh acres in 2020 to 3.73 lakh acres in 2026, while Part-B land fell from roughly 21 lakh acres to 17 lakh acres. The government calls its promised remedy a “permanent solution”. For the owners waiting to sell, mortgage, transfer or simply use what they own, the immediate solution remains permanent review. A genuine clean-up would publish the properties wrongly frozen, identify the responsible officials, disclose additions made since December 2023 and give each case a clearance date. Instead, Congress is offering 22-A: The Numbers Tour, with Revanth and Ponguleti alternating between legacy, error, classification and promise.

The land is still prohibited. The explanation is fully liberated.