HYDERABAD: Union Minister G Kishan Reddy on November 14 called Rahul Gandhi a new-age ‘Pittala Dora’ (braggart or con artist), a traditional folk character in the Telugu states, over allegations that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is tapping his phone.
Kishan Reddy said that a Pittala Dora refers to someone who indulges in megalomaniac idiocy, often for comic purposes, and that Rahul Gandhi’s actions fit the description. “These performers, seen visiting households during the Dussehra festival dressed in colonial hunting attire, are famous for spinning wildly humorous, unbelievable tall tales and making grand, empty boasts,” he said.
In a post on the social media platform X, Kishan Reddy said, “Rahul Gandhi is the new-age Pittala Dora of our times. His latest wild allegation that Narendra Modi is tapping his phone is bizarre yet curious.”
The Union Minister asked Gandhi in the post, “Where does Rahul Gandhi get these ideas, and what is the source of his unbridled and fertile imagination? The needle of suspicion for this source can only point to dining table conversations with his grandmother, Indira Gandhi, where she would have boasted about her brutalities during the Emergency era and the blatant telephone tapping she had taken recourse to prior to and during the Emergency.”
Kishan Reddy also welcomed Gandhi to Telangana by calling him ‘Pittala Dora’. “Welcome to Telangana, ‘Pittala Dora’, Shri Rahul Gandhi,” he said in the post.
Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay also called Rahul Gandhi a comedian over the BJP and RSS allegedly exploiting gig workers in the country.
In a post on X, Sanjay said, “Congress, which kept Indians trapped in a colonial mindset for decades until 2014, now comes to Hyderabad to accuse the BJP and RSS of bonded labour? That’s the joke of the century! Revanth Reddy turned Hyderabad into a comedy circus, with comedian Rahul Gandhi.”
On the central government bringing in social security for gig workers, he asked Rahul Gandhi, “Before reading scripted speeches, answer one question: Which government explicitly recognised gig and platform workers in India’s central labour legislation?”
It was the Narendra Modi government, through the Code on Social Security, 2020.
“Since 2014, Narendra Modi has repeatedly called for dismantling colonial-era thinking and building a confident, self-reliant India. You speak of two ideologies. Then explain your own contradictions. You attack corporates from political platforms while your own Congress governments actively court their investment. You promise gig workers social security in Telangana,” he said in the post.
Bandi Sanjay questioned the Telangana Congress government on the status of pending Aarogyasri dues. “When will hospitals receive their payments and what steps have been taken to address health security concerns raised by government employees, contract workers, outsourcing staff and journalists? What happened to the promises made to auto drivers,” he asked in the post.
The Union Minister also asked the Congress government how much funding has been allocated and released to the various welfare boards it established.
The workers deserve answers on their livelihoods, not political theatrics, he added.