A major cross-party political controversy erupted in Telangana as Congress MP from Nagarkurnool, Dr. Mallu Ravi, openly defended Union Minister of State for Home, Bandi Sanjay Kumar. The defense came amid a raging political storm and intense demands from opposition parties for Bandi Sanjay’s resignation following the registration of a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act case against his son, Bandi Sai Bhageerath.
Addressing the media at Gandhi Bhavan, Mallu Ravi strongly questioned the rationale behind targeting the Union Minister for the alleged actions of his adult son. Stressing that “children can commit mistakes,” the Congress MP argued that a father should not be held legally or politically responsible for an individual mistake made by his son. He asserted that political criticism would only be justified if Bandi Sanjay had actively tried to abuse his official power to shield his son or prevent him from surrendering to law enforcement authorities.
Mallu Ravi highlighted that despite Bandi Sanjay holding a powerful position as a Union Minister, the Telangana police had successfully registered the case and the accused had ultimately surrendered to be sent to judicial custody, showing that the law was taking its natural course. To counter the aggressive resignation demands being pushed by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), Ravi drew a sharp political parallel to the past arrest of BRS leader K. Kavitha. He questioned why BRS leaders KT Rama Rao and T. Harish Rao did not resign from their respective posts at that time, calling their current demands for Bandi Sanjay’s resignation hypocritical.