Overview
- At an internal Congress meeting, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy compared the party’s diversity to Hindu pluralism, citing examples such as Hanuman for bachelors and local deities offered alcohol and meat.
- Telangana BJP organized statewide demonstrations, including effigy burning in Hyderabad, and its youth and women wings were stopped by police as they tried to march on the Congress headquarters.
- Senior BJP figures including Bandi Sanjay Kumar and G. Kishan Reddy condemned the remarks as insulting to Hindus and pressed for an apology, joined by national spokespeople like Sambit Patra and Giriraj Singh.
- The Bharat Rashtra Samithi also demanded a retraction and apology, as state BJP chief N. Ramchander Rao called for protests and insisted on an unconditional apology.
- Reddy and Telangana Congress said the comments were a light‑hearted analogy and claimed opponents circulated selectively edited clips, as critics tied the episode to his earlier Jubilee Hills bypoll remark and to upcoming local polls.