Telangana’s regional party Bharat Rashtra Samithi is in the throes of a leadership battle, with former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s (KCR’s) daughter K Kavitha lashing out at her brother and BRS working president K T Rama Rao (KTR) – though without naming him – on Thursday morning.
Kavitha has been in the news after a letter she wrote to KCR on May 2 “leaked” in the third week of May. In the letter, she criticised KCR for not taking on the BJP in the state. In Telangana, the Congress is in power while the BRS and the BJP are in the opposition.
Interacting with the media on Thursday, Kavitha said, “I have only one leader, that is KCR. I will work only under one leader, that is KCR.” Without naming KTR, she alleged that there is an “ongoing effort to merge BRS with the BJP”.
“An offer was made to merge BRS with BJP when I was in prison. I said a resounding ‘No’ to it at that time because BRS is a regional party which should be alive to represent and safeguard the concerns of Telangana people,” she said.
In March last year, Kavitha was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate and then the CBI in connection with the alleged Delhi excise scam. She spent five months in jail before being granted bail.
She said that “covert operatives in the party” are working against her, even as she has stood steadfastly by the party. When The Indian Express asked whether she considers the party weak at the moment, given her claim that covert efforts are being made to merge it with the BJP, she said, “I don’t think that the BRS is weak now. I think that the BJP will gain if the BRS weakens. I think that all efforts should be made not to merge the BRS with any other party, be it the Congress or the BJP.” Asked whether she is ready to work with the working president, KTR, she said, “My only leader is KCR.”
Kavitha, who heads the women’s wing of the party and is a Member of the Legislative Council (state’s upper house), said that the party’s activities are being “limited to Twitter posts”.
“Where is the grassroots mobilisation when KCR was served notice to appear before an inquiry committee?” she asked. KCR was asked to appear before the Congress government-appointed committee, which is probing alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, commissioned when the BRS was in power. Without naming KTR, she said that she is being targeted by “some sections in the party” for speaking the truth. “Is there anything in my letter which was untrue or unreasonable?” she asked.
Kavitha reiterated that while she is being targeted for leaking the letter herself, those who actually leaked the letter should be brought to book. “There should be some sort of accountability. Those who leaked the letter should face the music,” she said. To allegations that she is working on behalf of other parties who want to weaken the BRS, she said, “It is being alleged that the Congress is giving me support. It is absolutely untrue. I do not do covert politics. I speak my heart as I am doing right now,” she said.
KTR, who has largely been silent about the letter leak, had earlier said that “there is internal party democracy” and that “anyone can write letters to KCR”. To this, Kavitha said, “Someone has declared that there is democracy within the party. Then why is the girl child of the house (Kalvakuntla family home) being dragged through the muck because she wrote a letter? I have written over a hundred letters to my father and party president, as that is my way of operating within the party.”
Kavitha’s media conference comes at a time when KTR is touring abroad to “raise support for the BRS”. About her brother’s tour, Kavitha said, “What is being celebrated abroad when there is no grassroots mobilisation for the party in Telangana?”
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