dynasty-in-disarray

Once seen as an invincible political force and architect of the Telangana statehood movement, the dynasty-driven Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is now caught in an existential crisis.

 

Ahead of the Panchayat elections later this month, the regional party is facing its toughest battle, marked by a fierce power tussle within the family, eroding support base and a string of corruption cases closing in on the leadership. 

 

Once a domineering presence in the state politics, BRS patriarch K Chandrashekhar Rao is now a pale shadow of his former self; rattled by his daughter K Kavitha’s revolt, weighed down by failing health and demoralised by a series of investigations being ordered by a combative Congress government into the alleged irregularities during his regime.

 

The defeat in the recent assembly by-election in Jubilee Hills in the heart of Hyderabad—a traditional stronghold—inflicted another blow to the party’s morale.

 

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) probe against the BRS working president and KCR’s son K T Rama Rao in the ‘Formula e-Race case’ and the CBI inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the planning and execution Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project—a flagship initiative of the previous regime—are the two biggest challenges before the opposition party.

 

Family drama

 

The power struggle within the BRS, leading to Kavitha’s expulsion from the party, fits into a familiar script of the downfall that the family-run regional parties often face in India.

 

The drama revolves around predictable themes of loyalty, betrayal, power, and pelf.

 

After losing power in the December 2023 Assembly polls, tensions began to crop up in KCR’s family. The simmering power struggle came to the fore with the party MLC Kavitha raising a banner of revolt and training her guns initially at KCR’s nephews and trusted aides—former minister T Harish Rao and former Rajya Sabha member Santosh Rao.

 

She dubbed them as “anacondas of corruption”. Of late, she has been directly attacking her brother KTR for bringing disrepute to the party patriarch. She dubbed KCR’s inner circle as the ‘ring of devils’.

 

By anointing his son as the party working president in 2018, KCR had left no one in doubt about his succession plan but Kavitha has made known her political ambitions to play a bigger role in the party.

 

The sibling rivalry has deepened further when she made it clear that she would not accept KTR as her leader.

 

Kavitha, who was arrested and jailed briefly last year for her alleged role in the Delhi liquor scam, is peeved that the party leadership did not support her fully during the difficult times. 

 

Double whammy

 

Kavitha’s stunning revolt came a day after the Congress government announced a CBI probe into the allegations of irregularities in the execution of Kaleshwaram project.

 

By levelling corruption charges against her own party seniors, Kavitha has virtually vindicated the ruling Congress’ position that massive irregularities took place in the execution of the multi-crore project.

 

The timing of her attack on the party insiders has stunned the political circles. She accused Harish and Santosh of amassing huge assets while making her father a ‘scapegoat’ in the Kaleshwaram scam.

 

She even insinuated that the corrupt TRS leaders were hand-in-glove with Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy as part of a conspiracy to defame KCR.

 

She directly accused Harish Rao and Santosh of being responsible for irregularities, if any, in the construction of Kaleshwaram irrigation project.

 

It is clear from Kavitha’s public speeches that she has chosen to tread her own political path, a development that is bound to damage the BRS' prospects in future elections.

 

Embarrassing indictment

 

The CBI probe into the alleged Kaleshwaram scam is the latest jolt to KCR and his family. The decision to hand over the case to the CBI was based on the report of the one-man judicial commission, headed by P C Ghose.  It held KCR and several top officials directly accountable for the “rampant and brazen procedural and financial irregularities” in the execution of the mega project.

 

The commission concluded that the KCR, along with the then Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao, and several top officials were accountable for the collapse of the piers of the Medigadda barrage and structural defects in Annaram and Sundilla barrages.

 

According to the executive summary of the report, the commission has flagged rampant procedural and financial irregularities, design flaws, and construction defects in the three barrages.

 

Intentional suppression of Expert Committee reports against Medigadda Barrage, dishonesty in shifting the water source point from Tummidihatti, abnormal escalation of the project costs, awarding of contracts on a lump sum basis, and hiding the decisions from the Cabinet were among the grave lapses highlighted by the commission.

 

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The probe report held the then Chief Minister primarily accountable for bypassing established procedures and ignoring expert advice, resulting in colossal public expenditure and infrastructure now in distress.

 

Several key IAS officers were also indicted. Crucially, the findings reveal that an Expert Committee, constituted in January 2015, had advised against constructing the Medigadda barrage due to high costs and time delays, recommending alternate sites like Vemanapally. But it was intentionally suppressed. The decision to construct the three barrages was not a collective Cabinet resolution but “the sole and individual decision” of KCR.

 

The commission’s findings detail a project marred by poor planning, questionable contract awards and a complete absence of operation and maintenance (O&M), transforming the Kaleshwaram Project — intended as Telangana’s lifeline — into a monumental financial and structural debacle.

 

The report estimated the project’s cost, initially pegged at Rs 38,500 crore, went up to over Rs 1,10,248.48 crore by March 2022, with allegations of funds being siphoned off to favour contractors.

 

KTR under cloud

 

In a further embarrassment to the beleaguered party, state Governor Jishnu Dev Varma last month granted permission to the government to prosecute KTR in the Formula E Race case.

 

The case involves allegations of financial irregularities amounting to approximately Rs 55 crore during the Hyderabad Formula E racing event held under the previous BRS government, when KTR was the minister for municipal administration.

 

The prosecution report was submitted to the government on September 9, naming KTR as the prime accused. This followed months of investigation, including extensive questioning of all three accused officials from January to July 2025. KTR appeared before the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) twice.

 

The ACB concluded that there was a quid pro quo arrangement whereby KTR allegedly facilitated a contract with an event sponsor – Ace Nxt Gen, a subsidiary of renewable energy company Grenko, in exchange for electoral bonds worth Rs 45 crore.

 

The ACB’s findings indicated violations of statutory procedures and intent behind the rushed release of funds from the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA).

 

The governor’s sanction enables the ACB to file a chargesheet and proceed with prosecution, although KTR has consistently denied wrongdoing, calling the case politically motivated and flimsy.

 

The case is related to alleged financial irregularities in funding one of the four seasons of the Formula E races in Hyderabad. To conduct the race, the Municipal Administration department had signed a tripartite agreement with Formula E Organisers (FEO) and Ace Nxt Gen Pvt limited in 2022. The ninth season of the car race was held in Hyderabad on February 10 and 11, 2023.

 

The promoter, Ace Nxt Gen, which was supposed to finance four seasons of the Formula E Race, dropped out unilaterally in the second season, citing losses in the first season. As the FEO was willing to organise the second season, the then Principal Secretary of the Municipal Administration Department Arvind Kumar, on the advice of the then Municipal Minister KTR, transferred Rs 55 crore to the FEO.

 

The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) then transferred the amount after dropping Ace Next Gen as the promoter. The government later included HMDA as the promoter.

 

The HMDA then entered into an MoU with FEO on October 30, 2023, which is considered another irregularity.

 

The other alleged irregularities included making payment of one tranche of money to FEO after the issue of the schedule for Assembly elections in Telangana without obtaining permission from the Election Commission and making payment to FEO in pounds without obtaining clearance from the RBI.

 

Soon after coming to power in December 2023, the Congress government has been digging into the alleged omissions and commissions of the previous regime and ordering probes into some of them.

 

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has been insisting that he would not resort to political vendetta against anyone, but he reiterated that if anyone had committed anything wrong, the law would take its course.