The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced a protest in front of the Singareni Collieries headquarters at Red Hills on Friday to oppose the State government’s decision to spend ₹100 crore on organising a football match featuring renowned Argentinian player Lionel Messi.
BJP Legislature Party leader A. Maheshwar Reddy told the media on Thursday that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy should not “misuse” public money for such events.
Mr. Reddy alleged that the government is spending a huge sum on the event, including appearance fee, security arrangements, and stadium modifications, by diverting funds from Singareni Collieries, Tourism, and Sports departments.
The match is scheduled to be held at Uppal Cricket Stadium, which is being temporarily converted into a football ground at an estimated cost of ₹10 crore. “This extravagance will damage the cricket ground,” he claimed.
The BJP leader questioned the rationale behind such spending and demanded clarity on which departments are footing the bill and what benefits the State expects from the event. He also criticised Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka for allegedly facilitating sponsorship through Singareni, stating that funds meant for workers’ welfare and sports promotion are being misused for the Chief Minister’s personal hobby.
‘Make delimitation process public’
In a separate development, party leaders led by former Minister Marri Shashidhar Reddy met GHMC Commissioner R.V. Karnan to demand that the delimitation process drafted by the Centre for Good Governance (CGG) at the Marri Channa Reddy Human Resource Development Institute be made public and shared with political parties.
The BJP questioned the impartiality of the delimitation process, asking why public representatives of the 27 urban local bodies merged with GHMC were not consulted for their suggestions and objections. The party sought ward-wise census data, total number of voters and polling stations in the core GHMC and the suburbs which are joining, the guidelines adopted for fixing boundaries of the new wards, and details on when the GHMC general body is likely to take up the issue.
The delegation, which included former MLA Ch. Ramachandra Reddy, general secretary N. Gautam Rao, senior leader S. Malla Reddy and former Minister C. Krishna Yadav, also sought maps for all the 300 proposed divisions.
Published – December 11, 2025 11:53 pm IST
