Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka
| Photo Credit:
NAGARA GOPAL
Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka has directed officials of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) to cancel the Naini tender notification for a coal mine, following an allegation by a Telugu newspaper that the Minister was favouring a particular bidder.
The decision follows a series of events that put the Congress government in a spot. It all started after a local TV channel aired a report alleging that a senior minister from Nalgonda was courting an All-India Services officer. This sparked a controversy, forcing the TV channel to apologise for maligning the official and prompting the government to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the issue. (As part of the investigation, the police arrested journalists involved in the telecast, which triggered a furore.)
This was followed by a Sunday column in a Telugu newspaper that alleged that both the Nalgonda minister and Bhatti Vikramarka (along with the TV channel promoter) were eying the Singareni Collieries tender, leading to the crisis. The column claimed that the TV channel aired the report to put the Nalgonda minister in a bad light.
Denying the allegations, the Deputy Chief Minister asserted that he would not be bogged down by them and would do everything to protect Telangana’s interests and properties.
“I directed the officials to cancel the tender. They told me there is no need to cancel since the process has barely started. Yet, I asked them to cancel the notification. I asked them to follow the terms and conditions generally set at the national level,” he said.
Stating that the news report was fictitious, he said he was not after making money or amassing properties. He alleged that the report was intended to create a wedge between the leaders.
Published on January 18, 2026
