Hyderabad: In a sharp escalation of its attack on the Congress government, the Telangana BJP on Friday accused Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s administration of using municipal restructuring to fuel a vast real-estate expansion under the guise of urban governance reforms.
Addressing a press conference at the state party office, BJP Telangana President N Ramchander Rao said the proposed merger of 27 local bodies—20 Municipalities and 7 Municipal Corporations—located within the Outer Ring Road (ORR) into the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation would not create a “Metropolitan City” as claimed but would merely pave the way for aggressive land-use changes beneficial to real-estate lobbies. With this addition, the Hyderabad’s land area will extend beyond 2,000 square kilometres.
రేవంత్ సర్కార్, ఔటర్ రింగ్ రోడ్డు లోపల ఉన్న 20 మున్సిపాలిటీలు/ 7 కార్పొరేషన్లను జీహెచ్ఎంసీలో విలీనం చేయడాన్ని బిజెపి వ్యతిరేకిస్తుంది.. ఎం.ఐ.ఎం నాయకుల చేతుల్లో GHMC ని అప్పగించి, వాళ్ళను మేయర్ చేయడమే ప్రధాన లక్ష్యంగా, ప్రజల అభివృద్ధి కాకుండా, వారి రియల్ ఎస్టేట్ వ్యాపారాల… pic.twitter.com/xOhdMlTrSw
— BJP Telangana (@BJP4Telangana) November 28, 2025
Rao asserted that the Congress government was prioritising land monetisation over public welfare. He warned that the merger would push more than two crore residents into a financially distressed GHMC framework that already struggles to provide basic civic amenities. “A cash-strapped GHMC cannot suddenly shoulder the burden of 27 additional bodies. The only certainty is that people in these newly added areas will face higher taxes,” he said.
The BJP Telangana chief further alleged that the Revanth Reddy government’s proposal to merge 20 municipalities and seven municipal corporations within the Outer Ring Road into the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation was driven by “malicious political intent”.
He claimed the Congress administration was working to “hand over the GHMC to AIMIM leaders, elevate them to the Mayor’s post, and boost their real-estate ventures rather than prioritising public development”. According to him, the move clearly reflected a strategy aimed at advancing real-estate interests instead of addressing citizens’ needs.
Before the press meet, the state BJP chief convened a closed-door meeting with corporators and senior leaders to finalise the party’s opposition strategy.
Rao questioned the rationale behind merging municipalities that are themselves grappling with severe civic failures—from poor sanitation and bad roads to weak drainage systems, ineffective waste management, and neglected streetlighting and water infrastructure. “Centralisation will not fix these chronic issues. It will multiply them,” he said.
He accused the Congress of reviving the “Tughlaq-like policies” once associated with the previous BRS regime, alleging that the decision was made without public consultation or an all-party discussion. Rao further claimed that the merger plan aligns with the interests of “real-estate mafia circles” that stand to profit from rapid land-value escalation once GHMC limits are redrawn.
Citing the controversial HILT policy, which aims to repurpose more than 9,000 acres of industrial land, Rao alleged that the Revanth Reddy government appears “more invested in real-estate transactions than governance”.
Terming the move “unscientific, illogical and politically motivated”, the BJP demanded that the Congress government immediately withdraw the proposal.
The press conference was attended by BJP MLCs Anji Reddy and Malka Komaraiah, state vice-president Banda Karthika Reddy, spokesperson and media in-charge N V Subhash, former MLA N V S S Prabhakar, GHMC floor leader Shankar Yadav, deputy floor leader Radha Dheeraj Reddy, and Narasimha Reddy.
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