KCR's daughter Kavitha to announce her own party tomorrow

New Delhi: Kalvakuntla Kavitha, daughter of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) supremo and former Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, popularly known as KCR, is set to announce her own party tomorrow (Wednesday).

Earlier in the day today, the BRS suspended Kavitha, who is a member of the legislative council (MLC), for anti-party activities.

She has called a press conference in Hyderabad at 12 pm tomorrow to announce her own party, sources said.

Kavitha already runs a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Telangana Jagruthi, a social and cultural group started by her during the Telangana movement. It continued to be an independent entity even when the BRS was in power for 10 years from 2014. She conducted several programmes during the two terms of the BRS.

Kavitha recently inaugurated the new office of Telangana Jagruthi, right next to her residence in Banjara Hills.

Telangana Jagruthi has, since its inception, enrolled over two lakh volunteers, which is a significant number to launch a political party.

Earlier on Monday, Kavitha's statement caused political ripples not only in the BRS but the entire state.
She accused her cousins, former irrigation minister T Harish Rao and former MP J Santosh Rao, of corruption and having a tacit understanding with Congress chief minister A Revanth Reddy to tarnish the image of her father.

She alleged that they had amassed huge assets while making her father a scapegoat in the alleged scam in the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project.

Kavitha further claimed that the existence of the BRS is under question when the party president was made an accused in the case of alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project, which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is currently probing. “When KCR is forced to face a CBI inquiry, does it even matter whether the BRS survives or not?” she asked.

Kavitha charged Harish Rao and Santosh with being responsible for irregularities, if any, in the construction of the Kaleshwaram irrigation project. “It was Harish Rao and Santosh Rao who handled key aspects of the project. They accumulated huge assets, blinding KCR. They are the anacondas of corruption,” she alleged.

Kavitha's differences with her brother, KT Rama Rao, are also well known. The relationship further soured when she was in jail for six months in the Delhi liquor scam case.

In May this year, a handwritten letter written by Kavitha to her father was leaked to the media, stirring a debate in the political circles in Telangana. The letter, written in a mix of Telugu and English, was described as feedback on the BRS's silver jubilee meeting held in Warangal on April 27, outlining both praise and criticism of the event and the party’s direction.

“As you spoke for just two minutes, some people began speculating that there will be a tie-up with the BJP in future. Even I personally felt that you should have spoken strongly (against the BJP). It might be probably because I suffered (because of the BJP). But you should have targeted the BJP some more, Daddy," she wrote.

Soon after her letter got leaked, she told reporters in Hyderabad that there was a conspiracy to merge BRS with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and claimed that this move was discussed within the party when she was in jail.

“There is a conspiracy to merge the BRS with the BJP. When I was in jail, there was a discussion in the party to the parties, to which I objected and offered to stay in jail if required," she had said.

Taking an aim at her brother, she had alleged that some people in the party conspired against her while she was in jail.

“No one else in the BRS accepts leadership, except for KCR. I belong to the BRS party, and there was a conspiracy against me when I was in jail. While going to jail, I said I would resign from the MLC post. I was targeted on the party’s social media handle," she had said.

"KCR is like God, who is surrounded by some devils," she added.

The sources said Kavitha had been mulling over launching her own party and was waiting for the BRS leadership to take any action against her.

Now that the action has been taken, all eyes are on Kavitha to announce her next move.

It remains to be seen whether she will succeed in creating a separate space for herself in Telangana politics.