Kalvakuntla Kavitha, the estranged daughter of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao, has trained her guns on her father for soft-pedalling on controversial issues like delimitation of constituencies and women’s reservation bill proposed by the BJP-led NDA government.
Speaking to reporters here, Kavitha, who was suspended from the BRS last year for indulging in anti-party activities, questioned why the BRS supremo and former Telangana Chief Minister had not made any comments against the BJP or the NDA government while addressing a political rally at Jagtial on Monday.
“Despite projecting the BRS as a national party, the party leadership has not made any critical comments against the BJP or the central government. Women do not get due respect within the BRS, as is evident from the party’s silence on the women’s reservation bill,” she said.
Accusing the BRS of failing to do any introspection on why the people had rejected it in the last assembly elections in Telangana, Kavitha said the BRS leadership would not change “even after a thousand years.”
Without taking the name of her father, she accused the party leadership of belittling voters by blaming it on the people for voting against the party in the 2023 elections. “Instead of making an attempt to rectify its mistakes, the BRS leadership says the people are repenting for their decision to vote against the party in the last elections,” she said.
Kavitha also questioned the induction of 75-year-old former Congress minister T Jeevan Reddy into the BRS and projecting him as a youthful figure. “What message does this send to the young leaders who are waiting for opportunities in Telangana?” she asked.
She found fault with the former chief minister for inviting anti-Telangana forces into the BRS under the guise of “political reunification.” She said such actions would only prove that the party had not changed its arrogant stand and urged intellectuals and academics to critically examine the BRS’s political approach.
Kavitha also criticised KCR for not addressing issues related to Telangana’s statehood movement during the Jagtial public meeting and said activists who had once fought for the state were now facing hardship.
Also read: Telangana: Kavitha to unveil new party soon
She alleged that both the BRS and the Congress were more interested in show of strength by holding large public meetings rather than addressing people’s problems. “One narrates exaggerated stories, the other tells fancy tales,” she remarked, adding that politics should be people-centric rather than party-centric.
Kavitha, who is set to launch a new political party on April 25, said her initiative aims to address public grievances and bring meaningful change.
Currently, Kavitha heads a cultural organisation called ‘Telangana Jagruthi’. She plans to convert this outfit into a full-fledged political party.
Family drama
The power struggle in the first family of the BRS came to a boil when Kavitha, a former MP who was arrested and jailed briefly in 2024 for her alleged role in the Delhi liquor scam, started attacking her cousins—former Minister T Harish Rao and former Rajya Sabha MP Santosh—for indulging in corruption and damaging the party’s image.
It soon turned into a no-holds-barred sibling battle when she started targeting her brother and the party working president K T Rama Rao for various omissions and commissions during the party’s nine-and-half year rule from 2014 to 2023.
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.
“BRS lacks ethics and constitutional spirit, and has become corrupt,” she said. She criticised party leadership for acting without constitutional spirit — targeting her unfairly, and creating a disciplinary committee overnight to suspend her without notice or explanation.
Massive corruption
She alleged that during the BRS’ rule between 2014 and 2023 there had been massive corruption in implementation of major projects such as the construction of new Secretariat complex, Ambedkar statue, Amara Jyoti and collectorate constructions. “Repeated representations regarding corruption by certain public representatives, illegal sand mining and atrocities on Dalits went unaddressed. I tried to bring them to the notice of KCR, but there was no response,” she said.
Kavitha alleged that she was jailed (in the Delhi liquor scam) due to political vendetta and was left to fight cases by herself for three years against central agencies, without party support. She criticised her suspension from BRS, alleging that it was carried out overnight without notice or seeking her explanation.
She described the party constitution as a “joke,” as it was hardly an eight-page document. While stating that she could legally challenge the suspension, she said she chose not to, asserting that she was happy to distance herself from what she described as a party lacking moral credibility.
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