Kavitha Quits BRS Following Suspension Over 'Anti-Party Activities'

Hyderabad: The Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) suspended its rebel leader and daughter of former Telangana chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, Kavitha, for anti-party activities, who in turn, undeterred, sent in her resignation from the primary membership of the party and as a member of legislative council (MLC).

The development was a double shocker to the party cadre as it came a day after the Congress government in the state ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into alleged corruption in Kaleswaram irrigation project constructed during BRS rule. At the centre of the scam is Chandrasekhar Rao himself, along with his nephew, former irrigation minister T. Harish Rao.

Regarding future plans, Kavitha said at a media conference on Wednesday (September 3) that she will not join any other party. Asked if she will float a new party, she said she will take any decision after wider consultations with her supporters and intellectuals. She flaunted her resignation papers as proof of her integrity.   

Holding Harish Rao responsible for her father earning a bad name, Kavitha hurled serious allegations against him and a former BRS MP J. Santosh Kumar a day after her return from a fortnight long tour of the United States on Monday. Three days of action and reaction running back and forth between her and the party since Monday culminated with Kavitha putting in her papers on Wednesday. 

She alleged that the duo was trying to take the BRS into its hands. The development marked a new low in her association with the party which has hit a roadblock for the past several months.

The decision to suspend Kavitha was taken by Rao himself, as party president, on Tuesday. A statement issued by the general secretary of BRS in-charge of disciplinary affairs S. Bharat Kumar said that Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to suspend Kavitha with immediate effect as her style of functioning and continued anti-party activities had the potential of causing damage to the party. 

Kavitha’s suspension was not viewed in isolation when she made the adverse remarks against Harish Rao and Santosh Kumar. She had been continuously rubbing the leadership on the wrong side ever since she set off on statewide tours, reportedly without the permission of her father last November.

This was three months after she was released from Tihar Jail in Delhi in the liquor scam that also involved Aam Aadmi Party leaders. From participating in celebrations and festivals with BRS cadre to supporting the demand for 42% reservation to backward classes which was championed by the Congress, Kavitha mobilised the cadre in 47 Assembly constituencies. 

This did not go down well with KCR or her brother K.T. Rama Rao, who is now the working president of the party.

The father-son duo allegedly had advised her to keep a low profile for some more time as the wounds of her arrest and detention in jail told on the image of the party. Her defiance resulted in the party issuing a diktat to the rank and file to distance themselves from her programmes. 

As such, none of the BRS workers or leaders were seen at her meetings after that. Her congregations only had the presence of workers of Telangana Jagruti, a cultural organisation, floated by her with a distinct colour. 

A senior leader told The Wire that she was keen on building a mass base for herself to challenge the supremacy of her brother in the party. She stuck to her guns to establish her own standing in the party on par with Rama Rao. Property disputes between the siblings were also not ruled out, he added. 

At a crowded media conference at Jagruthi office in Hyderabad, while releasing her resignation letter, Kavitha said that Harish Rao and Santosh Kumar ran a disinformation campaign against her programmes. Harish, in particular, colluded with chief minister A. Revanth Reddy, she alleged.

Kavitha is a former MP of Nizamabad and currently, its MLC. She was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in the liquor scam following the party’s defeat in the assembly elections in 2023. It is rumoured that her arrest was one of the reasons behind the party’s washout in the subsequent Parliament elections, where it failed to win even a single seat, when she was still in jail.

On return from jail, she took up the cause of social justice which she said was lacking in the BRS. This put the leadership in a tight spot. The party could not tolerate her advances to strengthen the slogan of empowerment of backward castes, which were in tune with the Congress programmes. However, Kavitha alleged at Wednesday's media conference that Harish Rao and Santosh Kumar were against social justice in Telangana.

Perhaps, the trigger for the escalation of her confrontation with the leadership was when she wrote a six page letter to Chandrasekhar Rao in May last year, while she was on tour in the US for the graduation ceremony of her elder son Aditya at a university. That was the first sign of discontent that Kavitha expressed through dissent against Chandrasekhar Rao.

The letter, which was leaked to the media, according to Kavitha, by some "demons" surrounding her father, questioned Rao's perceived soft stand on the BJP which was visible when he addressed a major public meeting in connection with the  silver jubilee celebrations of the party at Elkaturthi in Warangal district days earlier. 

Her picture was dropped from the huge banner in the backdrop of the stage for the meeting. She made no secret of her displeasure in an informal interaction with media persons at the party office in Hyderabad.  

In the letter, she also accused her father of giving selective access to party leaders in the letter. She said the cadre expected a stronger 'punch' in his speech at the rally, especially on changing the Telangana Talli idol and introduction of Telangana State song by the Congress government. She questioned his silence on 42% reservations for the backward classes.

On another occasion, she said a proposal to merge BRS with the BJP was made to secure her release from jail. This was because the BJP could rein in the ED.

All of these fed into the relationship of Kavitha with her father. It was said he ignored her on quite a few occasions when she visited him. But, this was denied by her at Wednesday's media conference. Earlier, her brother KT Rama Rao gave her a slip when she wanted to meet him to tie a rakhi (a bracelet made of cotton thread) on Rakshabandhan. 

More recently, she was relieved of her post as the honorary president of a trade union affiliated to the BRS which functioned in the coal belt of the state. A few years ago, under her leadership, the union had won elections of recognition by Singareni Collieries Company Limited management.

Kavitha also indulged in body shaming of former minister G. Jagdish Reddy when the latter accused her of parroting the words of Chandrasekhar Rao's critics. Reddy had reacted to the ransacking of the office of suspended Congress MLC Teenmaar Mallanna by workers of Jagruthi. 

The incident took place when the MLC used vulgar language against her for taking up the cause of BCs though she did not belong to this section.

Fresh from her return from the US in another visit last month for the admission of her younger son in a university, Kavitha fired the first salvo against Harish Rao and Santosh on Monday saying they led a smear campaign against her father from close quarters.

She specifically targeted Harish Rao saying he was relieved of his irrigation portfolio during the second term of BRS in government solely because of his corruption. She also questioned the existence of BRS with such leaders around. 

What has stood out throughout her revolt was that Kavitha was never impolite to her father. She referred to him as god and a mountain head of Telangana movement who cared a damn for money or power.

Even at Wednesday's media conference, she maintained that she shared a blood relationship with her father and brother but parties with vested interests wanted them divided. "That is why they have thrown me out now", she remarked. 

She appealed to her father to see their design. Kavitha also warned Rama Rao to be cautious against Harish Rao as he was in touch with the BJP. 

She recalled that Harish Rao had ensured additional funds to 25 BRS candidates in 2018 Assembly polls to keep them under his fold in case he had a chance to become Chief Minister. In collusion with Santosh, he was trying to split BRS. 

She appealed to her father to remove both of them from the party.

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