CM Revanth Reddy and his team’s visit to attend the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos in January 2024 has created a furore in Telangana. The controversy arises from the inclusion of Sriram Karri, an editor of an English newspaper, on the trip. His name appeared in the official government order under media relations.
However, the decision to take only Sriram Karri, who holds no official position, did not sit well with many Telanganites. Many questioned the criteria for including Karri in the official trip funded by taxpayers’ money. Typically, the Chief Minister’s PRO or a media delegation consisting of journalists from various media houses are taken on government trips for media coverage.
Karri, however, is neither the PRO of the CM nor part of any media delegation. The inclusion of just the editor of the Deccan Chronicle newspaper, while excluding other newspapers, has raised eyebrows. To seek an answer, a citizen filed an RTI appeal, which was rejected once and kept in abeyance the second time.
If the Congress government has any sound rationale behind including Karri in the Davos trip, their refusal to respond to the RTI remains a significant question. Many observe Karri’s association with the CM on this international trip as a potential quid-pro-quo arrangement for publishing negative stories about the BRS Party in the Deccan Chronicle newspaper.
If there is nothing to hide, why the Congress government is fearing to share a public document remains to be seen. Nevertheless, the onus is on the Congress to come clean on this incident.
