A popular television actor has been arrested after he allegedly opened fire at his neighbours, killing one and injuring three others, during an argument over cutting eucalyptus trees at Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh.

According to reports, Bhupinder Singh, who has starred in popular TV shows such as ‘Yeh Pyaar Na Hoga Kam’ and ‘Madhubala’, was setting up a fence near his farm in Bijnor. Next to his farm is the agricultural land belonging to Gurdeep Singh. The altercation began after Bhupinder decided to get some eucalyptus trees cut to set up the fence.

The argument escalated into a fight, and Bhupinder and three of his associates attacked Gurdeep Singh’s family members. During the clash, Bhupinder opened fire with his licensed revolver. The firing killed Gurdeep Singh’s 22-year-old son Govind and left him, his son Amrik and wife Beero Bai injured. The three are currently under treatment.

Bhupinder has been arrested under the charges of murder, attempt to murder and voluntarily causing hurt, among others. He has also been charged under the Arms Act.

Three of his associates – Gyan Singh, Jeevan Singh and Gurjant Singh – have also been arrested.

Revanth Reddy was sworn in as Chief Minister of Telangana this afternoon, days after he led his party to a comfortable win in last month’s Assembly election. Mr Reddy, 54, took his oath at a grand ceremony at Hyderabad’s LB Stadium. Eleven of his colleagues took their oath with him, including Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, a chief ministerial aspirant who was sworn in as Mr Reddy’s deputy.

READ | Revanth Reddy To Be Telangana Chief Minister With 12 Ministers

Senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra attended, as did party boss Mallikarjun Kharge and the chiefs of various state units. 

READ | Revanth Reddy: Next Telangana Chief Minister Once Had Egg Thrown

The Congress’ Gaddam Prasad Kumar, who beat Anand Methuku of the outgoing BRS and trounced P Naveen Kumar of the BJP to win the Vicarabad Assembly seat, will be the Speaker.

Who Are The 12 To Take Oath?

Apart from Mr Reddy, the incoming ministers are:

Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka: Also in the (short-lived) race to become Chief Minister, Mr Vikramarka is a Congress veteran and the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Assembly. A member of the Mala community, listed as a Scheduled Caste, he delivered 11 of 12 seats in the state’s Khammam district.

As part of his efforts for the Congress’ win, he undertook a four-month padyatra, or foot march, that covered nearly 1,370 km. Mr Reddy won the Madhira seat, which he has held since 2009.

Uttam Kumar Reddy: The third Congress leader in the Chief Minister race, Mr Reddy is a party loyalist and former Air Force pilot to boot. Now a seven-time election-winner, Uttam Kumar Reddy was also boss of the party’s state unit before he was replaced with Revanth Reddy in 2021.

Before the election he was the party’s Lok Sabha MP from Telangana’s Nalgonda – a seat he resigned since the Constitution forbids an individual from being an MP and MLA at the same time.

READ | BJP MPs Who Won State Polls Quit Parliament, Including Chief Minister Hopefuls

Mr Reddy won the Huzurnagar seat.

Sridhar Babu: Another Congress loyalist, Mr Babu was Chairman of the party’s manifesto committee and is, therefore, someone who understands the promises made to voters. A member of the Brahmin community, he was also a MLA in the undivided Andhra Pradesh government (when the Congress was in power) and served as the Minister for Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs.

Now in his fifth term as a MLA, Mr Babu won the Manthani seat, which he held for three consecutive terms between 1999 and 2009.

Ponnam Prabhakar: A politician since his student days, Mr Prabhakar is the former Karimnagar Lok Sabha MP; he won the seat – previously held by outgoing Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao – in 2009 but lost it to the BRS’ BV Kumar in 2014 and the BJP’s Bandi Sanjay Kumar in 2019.

A member of the Goud community, listed as a Backward Class, he won the Husnabad seat.

Komatireddy Venkat Reddy: Yet another veteran – with over three decades in the party – Mr Reddy was another Congress Lok Sabha MP who was fielded in this election and who has resigned in order to become a Telangana minister. And, like Mr Vikramarka, he played a key role in ensuring the Congress swept his district – the party won 11 of 12 seats in Nalgonda.

Mr Reddy won the Nalgonda seat, which he won thrice between 1999 and 2009 before being beaten decisively by the BRS’ KB Reddy in 2018. He won the seat back from his rival this election.

Damodar Raja Narasimha: The former Deputy Chief Minister of (undivided) Andhra Pradesh, Mr Narasimha was also Minister of Higher Education and Agriculture. A Dalit from Telangana’s Medak area, he won the Andole Assembly seat, recovering it from the BRS that won it in two previous polls.

Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy: Elected to the Khammam Lok Sabha seat in 2014, on a ticket from Andhra Pradesh’s ruling YSR Congress Party, he joined the BRS in 2018 and the Congress just before this election. Called the ‘strongman’ of the district, he won the Palairu seat by over 56,000 votes.

Dana Anasuya: Popularly called Seethakka, Ms Anasuya is a member of a tribal community from Mulugu district and is fondly referred to by incoming Chief Minister Revanth Reddy as his “sister”.

Interstingly, Ms Anasuya was a member of a Naxalite group before she joined politics; she joined as a young girl but quit after being disillusioned and is now also a trained lawyer with a Ph.D in political science. She won the Mulug Assembly seat.

Thummala Nageswar Rao: Previously with ex-Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrabau Naidu’s TDP, Mr Rao was a three-time MLA with that party before he joined rivals BRS in 2014, where he served as Minister for Roads and Buildings. He quit the BRS and joined the Congress ahead of this election because he was denied a ticket.

From Telangana’s Khammam district, Mr Rao won that Assembly seat; he earlier won this in 2009, when with the TDP and when it was part of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly.

Konda Surekha: A seasoned Telangana politician, Ms Surekha won the Warangal (East) Assembly seat that she first won in the 2014 election. Impressively, she has lost only twice in eight electoral contests – the bypoll to the Parkal seat in 2012 and the full election to the same seat in 2018.

She belongs to the Padmashali community, which is designated as a Backward Class.

Jupally Krishna Rao: He started as a bank employee before being elected to the Kollapur Assembly seat for five consecutive terms starting in 1999. The first term was an independent candidate and the last two (in 2012 and 2014) were as a member of the BRS. He lost to the Congress in 2018.

He is a member of the Velama caste.

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Revanth Reddy arrived for his swearing-in ceremony Thursday – the 54-year-old is now Chief Minister of Telangana and head of the first Congress government in the still-young state – in an open-top jeep waving to a vocal and adoring crowd at Hyderabad’s 30,000-seat capacity LB Stadium.

READ | Revanth Reddy Takes Oath As Telangana Chief Minister, Gandhis On Stage

As big-ticket entrances go, Mr Reddy’s was relatively subdued; dressed in a white shirt and black trousers, and perched on a heavily-garlanded open-top vehicle driven cautiously through a sea of supporters chanting his name. But, in politics, optics are at least as important as the situation itself.

And in this entrance there was one important message – Sonia Gandhi standing by his side. Why was this significant?

Because former Congress chief Mrs Gandhi is revered in the southern state as ‘Sonia amma (mother)’ and seen by many as the driving force behind the creation of Telangana in 2014 – when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance was in power at the centre.

For Revanth ‘Tiger’ Reddy, standing next to Sonia Gandhi does two things.

First, it underlines the support of the matriarch of the Gandhi family in his elevation to Telangana’s top job six years after joining the party. Widely seen as a near-automatic choice for Chief Minister, Mr Reddy still had to see off two challengers – Uttam Kumar Reddy and Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka.

Both are Congress veterans with decades of service to the party, both played key roles in the campaign that delivered Sunday’s win, and both expected to be ‘rewarded’ for their loyalty.

READ | Revanth Reddy Is Congress Choice, Rivals Give Party A “Loyalty” Reminder

For now, any discontent at losing the top post to Mr Reddy has been put to bed by making one a Deputy Chief Minister and the other a minister, most likely with a high-profile portfolio. And Mrs Gandhi’s public show of support should strengthen the new Chief Minister’s hand.

Second, it also ups Mr Reddy’s likeability factor among the people of Telangana, millions of whom are firm admirers of Sonia Gandhi particularly, if not the Congress as a party. Mr Reddy may not have needed the helping hand – he is already hugely popular – but a boost could never hurt.

Telangana was formed in 2014 amid tension within the then-ruling Congress, and Mrs Gandhi is widely seen as having played a key role in pushing through the bill that birthed the state.

READ | Telangana State Likely, Sonia Gandhi Has Cleared It, Say Sources

This included reaching out to the BJP’s Venkaiah Naidu for her fierce rival’s support, and even expelling six of her MPs for attempting to stall the bill in the Lok Sabha and issuing no-confidence motions.

The Congress has never shied away from reminding Telangana voters of Mrs Gandhi’s contribution, even demanding, in 2020, that a chapter on this topic be included in school syllabuses.

“Just as role of KCR (outgoing Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, hailed as the ‘father of Telangana’) cannot be denied… same is with Sonia Gandhiji’s role. You are incorporating KCR’s role in school syllabus… then why incorporate Soniaji’s contribution,” then party leader Sravan Dasoju said.

Mrs Gandhi herself called in that love ahead of this election; in a video message 48 hours before voting, she said, “I, with my colleagues, had the opportunity to be part of the birth of this great state… It is my dream to see a Congress government in Telangana… Will you give us your support?”

Message from Telangana’s own ‘Sonia Amma’ to the people of the state#MaarpuKavaliCongressRavali pic.twitter.com/R5tlW0yjSO

— INC Manipur (@INCManipur) November 28, 2023

The answer, as it turned out, was yes. The Congress eased to victory after votes were counted on Sunday, winning 64 of 119 seats to oust the BRS that had ruled since the state was formed in 2014. The Congress, divided when Telangana was formed, failed to capitalise on its role in its birth to win the first election. Now, nine years later, it finally has the reigns, and a second state in South India.

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