Telangana’s Land Records Have Joined Party Politics
The Congress government has turned a property crisis into a blame relay, with every baton handed to the previous regime.
Telangana’s Congress government has discovered a revolutionary land policy: place private properties on the prohibited list, apologise for the error, and then blame the BRS for leaving the filing cabinet untidy. Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy has described the Section 22-A mess as inherited, while also explaining the officials’ mistakes and the government’s corrective work. The administration, in other words, is responsible for discovering the problem, apologising for the problem and explaining why it is not responsible for the problem.
The arithmetic has been recruited to the defence. Ponguleti said 1,02,52,690 acres were under Section 22-A when Congress came to power on 7 December 2023, reducing to 1,02,05,250 acres by 31 August 2026. The government calls the 47,440-acre reduction evidence that there was no undue increase. Property owners whose land remains frozen may admire the subtraction while waiting for the registration office to recognise their ownership.
The legacy argument has a shelf life. Congress has been in office since December 2023, not visiting Telangana on a study tour. If the list is wrong, correct it. If officials are responsible, identify the failure and fix the system. If the previous BRS government created the conditions, publish the records and pursue accountability. But “legacy issue” cannot become a permanent department, staffed by press conferences and powered by selective memory.
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy then supplied the more photogenic distraction: an Assembly allegation that around 700 acres near KCR’s Erravelli farmhouse were under his family’s control, including 388 acres said to be government land, followed by an inquiry order. That is an allegation awaiting findings, not a verdict. Still, it offers the government a familiar political comfort: while citizens ask why their land is blocked, the state can ask whether KCR’s land was properly counted.
The BRS should answer the farmhouse allegations on the record. Congress should answer the land records on the ground. Telangana’s property owners need neither a feud nor a spreadsheet of inherited excuses. They need their land to stop being prohibited by mistake.
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