Hyderabad: Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy has sacked Konda Surekha, the state forest and endowments minister, from his cabinet, ending days of controversy after her daughter Sushmita Patel publicly criticised Reddy for throwing cold water on her political ambitions.A five-time MLA currently representing Warangal East, Surekha did not condemn her daughter’s outburst. Instead, she targeted Reddy. On Wednesday (September 2), Reddy reached Delhi to discuss disciplinary action against her with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal. He sent in his recommendation sacking the minister to the governor Shiv Pratap Shukla on Thursday afternoon. A late night press communique on Thursday, September 3, by the Lok Bhavan said the governor has dropped Surekha from the cabinet “with immediate effect” on the advice of CM Reddy.He also issued an order rescinding the appointment of another senior Congress leader and former minister G. Chinna Reddy as vice-chairman of the State Planning Board – a rank equivalent to cabinet minister.Time ripe for a cabinet expansionChinna Reddy, incidentally, was in the thick of a controversy over his remarks against Congress MLA of Wanaparthy T. Megha Reddy. Chinna Reddy is a former MLA of Wanaparthy. His position in the State Planning Board is being filled by former Hyderabad mayor G. Vijayalakshmi, who was serving as the chairperson of Telangana State Commission for Women. Surekha’s exit, however, has thrown the doors open for a cabinet expansion with two berths already vacant, Surekha’s being the third.Both Surekha and Chinna Reddy had become contentious to Congress for over a month, as they required intervention of a disciplinary action committee of the party which served them show cause notices. They then urged the committee to withdraw the notices, saying they did nothing wrong.The committee then submitted its report to the party high command recommending action against them, upon which Revanth Reddy, deputy chief minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and state Congress president B. Mahesh Kumar Goud were summoned to New Delhi for discussions on Tuesday.Surekha and Patel have been critical of Reddy on several occasions in the past for throwing his weight behind Parkal MLA Revuri Prakash Reddy, but it was only after the mother-daughter duo launched their tirade against the chief minister last month that the high command decided to take serious action against them. Sushmita Patel has been seeking Congress ticket from Parkal for the upcoming elections. It all began in the latest instance on August 16 when Revanth Reddy, at a public meeting in Parkal, announced the candidature of Prakash Reddy in next elections. Patel posted on her social media account two days later that she was the future MLA of Parkal. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Konda Surekha (@konda_team)The next day, again, she trained her guns at Reddy during a meeting in the constituency to mark her mother’s birthday. Surekha maintained that she had nothing to do with her daughter’s remarks but made no attempt to condemn them. Over 20 MLAs of Congress demanded Surekha’s resignation at a news conference when Revanth Reddy was on his foreign tour. Surekha met Mallikarjun Kharge in Bengaluru on August 23, and in Delhi on September 2, the day when Revanth Reddy, Bhatti Vikramarka and others were also in the national capital. Her attempt to meet Venugopal did not succeed. Political implicationsSources said the discussions of Kharge and Venugopal with Revanth Reddy and others were focused on political implications of Surekha’s dismissal from the cabinet as she hailed from the backward classes. She was one of only two women ministers in the cabinet.Following her dismissal, she released to the media persons letters she wrote to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi alleging that her powers as a minister were ‘withdrawn much before her dismissal’. She had no role in decisions taken in her departments. Her former officer on special duty Sumanth’s services were also abruptly terminated.Meanwhile, the Congress leadership was also perturbed with Chinna Reddy over his recent remarks on money in ticket distribution for elections. He alleged that his claim for a ticket from Wanaparthy was overlooked and his rival Megha Reddy was preferred. Surekha was first elected to the state assembly from Shayampet constituency in Warangal on Congress ticket in 1999. After the delimitation of constituencies she fought from Parkal and Warangal (East). She left Congress to join the YSR Congress and then Bharat Rashtra Samiti which denied her ticket in 2018. On returning to Congress, she claimed party tickets to contest Assembly elections in 2023 for herself from Warangal (East), daughter from Parkal which was earlier represented by her and husband Muralidhar Rao from Bhoopalpally. However, the Congress fielded her alone and made her a Minister after the party’s victory. Surekha has been at the centre of several controversies after her reentry into Congress. As a minister, she also stirred up a scene at Geesugonda police station in Parkal constituency over the detention of her supporters. Congress MLAs of erstwhile Warangal district have complained to the party and chief minister Reddy over her frequent intervention in their constituencies.Her most controversial outburst was holding former minister of BRS K.T. Rama Rao was responsible for the separation of actor couple Samanta and Naga Chaitanya. Rama Rao filed a defamation case against her. Surekha also alleged an affair of Rama Rao with actress Rakul Preet Singh. Her daughter alleged a conspiracy by Revanth Reddy to arrest Surekha’s former Officer on Special Duty Sumanth when police searched her house for him. Responding to the dismissal from cabinet, Surekha alleged at a news conference that Revanth Reddy “blackmailed” the party high command into taking action against her.