Tensions escalated in Telangana’s political arena as Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K. T. Rama Rao unleashed a scathing attack on Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, labeling him a “mad dog” on X.

The outburst came in response to Reddy’s sharp remarks about Rama Rao’s father, former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), during a public event on Wednesday. Rama Rao accused Reddy of crossing “every limit of decency” and urged his family to seek mental health support for him, warning that his “frustrated state” might turn volatile.

The controversy erupted after Reddy, speaking at a ceremony distributing appointment letters to 1,292 junior lecturers and 240 polytechnic lecturers, took a swipe at KCR’s legacy. He suggested that those boasting of “stature” had been reduced to a “stretcher” and risked ending up in a “mortuary” if their behavior persisted.

Reddy’s comments were a rebuttal to Rama Rao’s claim a day earlier that KCR would skip the Assembly session, citing a lack of peers in the Congress matching his stature. Reddy countered that stature stems from positions like Chief Minister, not individuals or castes.

Reddy also lambasted the KCR-led BRS government, alleging it left behind a “financial cancer” with debts costing the state Rs 6,500 crore monthly to service. “When I reveal the truth, the opposition cries foul,” he said, accusing the KCR family of peddling lies as a “family package.”

Promising transparency, Reddy vowed to steer Telangana toward development with public support, distancing his administration from what he called the BRS’s deceptive governance.