Before turning into a full-fledged politician a decade ago, Panjagula Rohith Reddy, a known real estate dealer in Telangana’s Tandur, began calling himself “Pilot Rohith Reddy”, claiming that he held a commercial pilot’s licence.
Reddy has since found himself at the centre of several controversies, which have often left his party, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) led by K Chandrashekar Rao or KCR, red-faced. The latest of these rows is the drug bust at his alleged “infamous” farmhouse in Moinabad on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
Reddy, 41, along with several persons including Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Eluru MP Putta Mahesh, was detained by the EAGLE unit of the Telangana Police Saturday for allegedly consuming and possessing narcotics. He has been remanded to judicial custody in Chanchalguda Central Prison in Hyderabad.
“He (Reddy) seems to have a finger in every pie around Tandur — be it real estate, brokering deals, or being involved in panchayat-level politics,” said a BRS leader who is seen as Reddy’s rival.
Reddy began his political career in 2008 with the now-defunct Praja Rajyam Party (PRP), floated by actor Chiranjeevi. Then aged 23, he reportedly told the PRP leadership that he would fund his own campaign in the 2009 undivided Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections. However, he was denied the PRP’s ticket following which he allegedly tried to sabotage the party candidate’s chances.
Subsequently, his attempts to join the TDP were reportedly scuttled by its strongman Patnam Mahender Reddy, who is currently a BRS MLC. Reddy tried to make his way into the Congress, but could not succeed.
Eventually, in 2014, he joined the BRS, then known as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). Since then, he has been at odds with Mahender Reddy, a four-time MLA from Tandur who switched to the TRS in 2014 after the formation of Telangana.
In 2014, Rohith Reddy made a bid to contest from Tandur on a BRS ticket but was overlooked by the party, which instead fielded Mahender who went on to win the election and become a minister in KCR’s Cabinet.
The rivalry between the two leaders eventually forced the BRS to expel Rohith Reddy ahead of the 2018 Telangana Assembly polls. He contested the election on a Congress ticket and won. Following his win, Reddy and Mahender have publicly accused each other of indulging in corruption.
In October 2022, Reddy again grabbed headlines after Cyberabad Police, reportedly acting on his tip-off, arrested three persons allegedly affiliated to the BJP on charges of offering bribes to three BRS MLAs — G Balaraju, Harshvardhan Reddy and R Kantha Rao — to switch sides.
According to police, Reddy had alerted them that the trio were going to meet him and had allegedly offered him Rs 100 crore to join the BJP. The incident, which occurred in the run-up to the Assembly polls, brought him into good books of KCR.
Ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections, he returned to the BRS and unsuccessfully contested the polls from Tandur. Since his defeat, he has been lying low.
Reddy is known for his links with businessmen and politicians cutting across party lines. “Meetings between politicians and businessmen at the farmhouse are arranged through Reddy’s brother, Ritesh. Since the Congress came to power in Telangana in 2023, the farmhouse has been under watch, with the police seeking tip-offs about any parties or meetings held there,” a source said.
More recently, in February, Reddy was booked for violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) during the municipal elections after he and his followers allegedly forced their way into a counting centre. He was later granted anticipatory bail by the Telangana High Court.
