Congress government spreading lies against me, says former director of Telangana Digital Media
Konatham Dileep charged the Revanth Reddy government with orchestrating a smear campaign to divert public attention from administrative failures
Hyderabad: Telangana Digital Media former director Konatham Dileep has charged the Revanth Reddy government with orchestrating a smear campaign against him, using select media to spread false allegations against him. He said the Chief Minister’s Office was distorting facts to divert public attention from administrative failures.
Dismissing reports in a section of media that he misused government funds amounting to Rs 18 crore for personal foreign trips, Dileep clarified that he had only accompanied former IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao on official investment meetings abroad.
“Between 2014 and 2023, I was part of nine official delegations, all funded by the IT Department, not the Digital Media wing,” he stated.
He noted that details of these trips were always in the public domain, with the government sharing all details including photos and updates on social media. “It is unfortunate that certain media outlets are presenting old, well-documented information as a new revelation,” he added.
Dileep said a recent RTI response was deliberately misrepresented to suggest misuse of funds. The Rs 18 crore cited in the RTI reply was the Digital Media wing’s total expenditure from 2016 to 2023, covering salaries, campaigns, and operational costs.
“Yet, certain media outlets falsely claimed this was the cost of my personal trips, funded by the Digital Media wing,” he said, finding fault with vernacular media for publishing misleading reports.
He also questioned why the government had not responded to an RTI inquiry about Chief Minister Revanth Reddy taking a private individual, journalist Sriram Karri, on official foreign trips at public expense.
He said the Congress administration had spent twice as much on digital media in just 15 months as the BRS government did in a decade, apart from spending Rs 28 crore for publicity banners on the farm loan waiver.
Alleging political vendetta, Dileep said in the last 10 months, the government had filed 11 cases against him and orchestrated multiple arrests.
“Just yesterday, three cases were registered against BRS working president KT Rama Rao, social media convenor Manne Krishank, and me for posting factual information on the Class 10 question paper leak,” he added. He asserted that such pressure tactics would not silence him.
“No amount of pressure or smear campaigns will deter me from exposing this government’s failures,” he declared.
