The stall became popular among locals because of influencers and food vloggers.
Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy stepped in to save a popular roadside eatery in Hyderabad from being evicted by the traffic police. The Chief Minister asked the police to take the decision back and let 'Kumari Aunty's' food stall function.
Kumari, popularly known as 'Kumari Aunty', runs a roadside eatery near ITC Kohenur junction in Hyderabad. The food stall is popular among Instagram influencers and food vloggers who visit the stall very often during lunchtime. 'Kumari Aunty' offers rice, chicken, mutton curry and several other non-vegetarian food items on the menu and several movie stars visit the place for film promotions, India Today reported.
The stall became popular among locals because of influencers and food vloggers and the Chief Minister is likely to visit the eatery within a day or two to instil confidence in small business owners like Kumari Aunty, the Hindu reported.
The Raidurgam traffic police had penalised or removed vehicles parked around the food stall in ITC Kohinoor, beside Knowledge City.
"About 200, most of them being YouTubers, come here every day between 12-2 p.m. to shoot videos and park their vehicles around the stall leading to congestion," said Ganesh Patel, Inspector, Raidurgam Traffic Police, giving the reason for the police action.
Reacting to her shop closure orders, Kumari Aunty said she has been running the stall for over 13 years, adding that her husband was upset that the media popularity had led to the closure, India Today reported.
The YSCRP, the ruling party in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, alleged that TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan were behind the closure of the business using Revanth Reddy since Kumari Aunty was a beneficiary of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy's scheme.