Hyderabad, Sep 2 (IANS) For Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhar Rao, aka KCR, the biggest crisis in his family and in his 25-year-old party came from an unexpected quarter – his only daughter Kalvakuntla Kavitha.
A series of events since the leak of an internal letter Kavitha addressed to KCR three months ago culminated in her suspension from Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on Tuesday.
The first and only woman politician from the KCR family, Kavitha, was suspended for anti-party activities. The party issued a statement, announcing the decision of BRS President and former Chief Minister KCR.
While for the last few weeks, Kavitha has been targeting those around KCR for what she called ‘conspiring’ against her, the MLC’s attack on her cousin and former minister T. Harish Rao on Monday came as the last straw.
A few hours after Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy announced in the Assembly that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will probe the alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram irrigation project built during the BRS rule, she launched an open attack on Harish Rao, another cousin and former MP J. Santosh Kumar and another former MP Megha Krishna Reddy.
Addressing a press conference, she blamed them for KCR being ‘framed’ in the P. C. Ghose Commission inquiry in the Kaleshwaram project. She alleged that they did all the ‘bad things’ to tarnish the image of KCR. She even claimed that Harish Rao’s removal as Irrigation Minister during the second term of the BRS was a consequence of his alleged role in the Kaleshwaram irregularities.
Kavitha’s sensational comments, even while defending her father, were seen as a ‘confession’ when KCR and Harish Rao had approached the High Court, seeking to quash the Ghose Commission report, which indicted them.
Kavitha’s suspension is seen as a fallout of a long power struggle in the KCR family. The rift came out in the open in May this year when Kavitha reacted strongly to the alleged leak of her letter to KCR, highlighting internal issues in the party. She blamed those around KCR for the leak. “KCR is a god who is surrounded by some devils,” she had said.
Her initial target was her cousin and former Rajya Sabha member J. Santosh Kumar. A few days later, she alleged that a section of the party leaders was responsible for her defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and that attempts were being made to hand over the BRS to the BJP.
She revealed that the proposal to merge the BRS with the BJP came when she was in jail in the Delhi liquor policy case. She claimed that she strongly opposed the proposal.
Denying reports of any plans to float a separate party, Kavitha had stated that she will remain in the BRS and work under the leadership of KCR.
She had also alleged that attempts are being made to force her to distance herself from her family and the party.
Last month, she trained guns on senior leader and former minister G. Jagadish Reddy, considered a staunch loyalist of KCR. Irked over some comments made by Jagadish Reddy, she called him ‘Lilliput’.
Her remark that KCR alone is her leader was seen as an indirect attack on her brother and BRS Working President K.T. Rama Rao (KTR), who is seen by many in the party as KCR’s heir apparent.
KTR, the only son of KCR, was a cabinet minister and held several key portfolios when the BRS was in power from 2014 to 2023.
There had been reports of a cold war between KTR and Harish Rao. Harish Rao, who is the nephew of KCR, has been with TRS (now BRS) ever since the party was floated by KCR in 2001 to revive the movement for statehood to Telangana.
Harish Rao, who held the key portfolios of Irrigation, Finance, and Health during the two terms of BRS, was believed to be unhappy with KTR being projected as KCR’s political successor. However, Harish Rao set to rest all the speculations recently by making it clear that he is ready to work under KTR if KCR appoints him as the BRS President.
While many had speculated that the perceived rift between KTR and Harish Rao may trigger a storm in the party, it was the topmost woman leader of the party who raised the banner of revolt.
Kavitha, who did her B Tech in 1999, joined the movement for statehood to Telangana in 2008 after returning from the US, where she had moved after her marriage to D. Anil Kumar. She floated the Telangana Jagruthi to give a cultural thrust to the Telangana movement.
She became popular among BRS cadres, especially among women, for organising and leading annual Bathukamma celebrations.
In 2014, she was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Nizamabad constituency and emerged as one of the top leaders of the party. However, in 2019, she suffered a shock defeat at the hands of the BJP’s Arvind Dharampuri.
In 2020, she was elected to the Legislative Council by winning the by-election from Nizamabad Local Authorities Constituency. She was seen as a strong contender for a Cabinet berth, but KCR did not induct her, apparently to avoid power centres within the family.
The crushing defeat of BRS in the November 2023 Assembly elections came as the biggest shock for KCR, who had been ruling Telangana since it attained statehood in 2014.
Her arrest in March 2024 by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case connected to the Delhi liquor scam dealt the biggest blow to KCR and the party.
It was alleged that she was part of a “South Group’ which conspired with the top leaders of Aam Admi Party (AAP) for getting favours in the formulation and implementation of the excise policy.
The BRS suffered a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha polls as the party drew a blank for the first time since its inception.
Kavitha spent five months in jail before the Supreme Court granted her bail in August last year. After lying low for a few months, the MLC became active, though there were reports that KCR wanted her to stay away from party activities.
After the BRS held a massive public meeting at Warangal on April 27 to mark its silver jubilee, and KCR vowed a political comeback, Kavitha’s leaked letter to KCR dropped a bomb. She had pointed to shortcomings in KCR’s speech, questioning his ‘soft stance’ on the BJP and his silence on some key issues.
The leaked letter triggered a chain of events, finally leading to her suspension from the party.
–IANS
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