BRS working president K. T. Rama Rao on Tuesday, 21 July 2026 launched a sharp attack on the Telangana Congress government, citing the state's slide to 13th position in the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) rankings and alleging that industrialists are being extorted at gunpoint by individuals linked to the ruling party.

Context

Posting on X, KTR wrote: 'Telangana slips to 13th rank in Ease of Doing Business rankings. What can you expect from a party like Congress where a Cabinet Ministers' daughter openly admits that Industrialists are threatened for money with a Gun to their head. Only crime and loot rising in Telangana.'

The post, accompanied by two images, directly ties the ranking decline to what KTR describes as a deteriorating law-and-order environment for businesses under the Indian National Congress administration that took office in early 2024 after defeating BRS in the December 2023 Telangana assembly elections.

Policy Backdrop

The Ease of Doing Business rankings are an annual assessment conducted by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), evaluating state-level regulatory reforms across areas such as land acquisition, construction permits, labour regulations, and single-window clearances. The exercise has been conducted since 2015.

Under BRS rule, Telangana had positioned itself among the higher-performing states in early rounds of the assessment, with the government actively promoting the state as an investment destination — particularly in the IT, pharma, and manufacturing sectors. The Congress government, which assumed charge in early 2024, inherited that institutional framework but has faced criticism from the opposition over industrial policy continuity.

Stakeholders and Impact

Industrialists and business investors are the primary stakeholders flagged in KTR's post. A drop in EoDB rankings signals to prospective investors that the regulatory and security environment for doing business in the state has worsened relative to peers, potentially affecting investment inflows and job creation.

The allegation that a Cabinet Minister's daughter publicly admitted to industrialists being 'threatened for money with a gun to their head' adds a law-and-order dimension to what would otherwise be a technocratic governance debate. If substantiated, such claims would represent a serious indictment of the state's investment climate. The Telangana Congress government has not, as of this report, issued an official response to these specific allegations.

Indian opposition parties have increasingly deployed central government metrics such as EoDB rankings to challenge the economic governance record of ruling state parties. In Telangana, the transition from BRS to Congress has sharpened partisan exchanges over industrial policy, regulatory reform, and the overall business environment.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to whether the Telangana Industries Department issues a rebuttal or presents data on investment inflows and policy initiatives to counter the opposition narrative. The next DPIIT EoDB rankings cycle will be closely watched as a fresh benchmark for the Congress administration's performance.

With KTR and BRS intensifying their campaign around economic governance, the Congress government faces growing pressure to demonstrate that Telangana remains a competitive investment destination — and to address the serious law-and-order allegations head-on before they gain further traction among the business community.