Chiranjeevi's daughter joins the Kanaka Durga temple's trust body as the AP government hands the Konidela family a fourth institutional post in recent months.
Sushmita Konidela is now a special invitee to the trust board that runs the Kanaka Durga temple in Vijayawada. The order came from K Kanna Babu, Secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Endowments Department, dated September 7, 2026, according to Track Tollywood. Telugu360 reported the paperwork went out on Tuesday, a small discrepancy that doesn't change the substance of the news.
As a special invitee, Sushmita won't be running the temple. Her brief, per both reports, is advisory: suggestions on devotee facilities, input on development work atop Indrakeeladri Hill, and a voice in how the trust handles its big festivals. That last part matters. Dasara at the Durga temple pulls enormous crowds every year, and the appointment lands just weeks before the season starts.
Sushmita is Chiranjeevi's elder daughter. She began in the industry as a stylist before moving into production, and she now runs Gold Box Entertainment. Her most recent credit is Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu, which she produced alongside her father for Sankranti 2025 and which turned into one of that season's bigger hits. This temple posting is her first appointment to a public institution.
It's also not an isolated one. Chiranjeevi's wife Surekha was named to the governing body of the Yadagirigutta Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Devasthanam in Telangana a few weeks back and has already taken up the role. Pawan Kalyan, Chiranjeevi's brother, is Deputy Chief Minister in the AP coalition government. And Naga Babu, another brother, was recently made chairman of the AP-GREEN executive committee, a post that carries cabinet rank, according to Track Tollywood.
Four Konidelas, four different institutions, all within a stretch of months. Nobody involved has commented on the pattern itself, and neither report frames it as anything beyond individual appointments made on merit. But it's hard to miss the shape of it from the outside. A family with one foot in Tollywood and another now firmly inside Andhra Pradesh's temple and government machinery.
What Sushmita actually does with the role remains to be seen. The real test comes with Dasara, when the temple trust has to manage lakhs of devotees over ten days and every decision about crowd flow and facilities gets scrutinised in public. That's when her advisory seat starts to mean something concrete.
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