Telangana: Kavitha on war path with father, brother. Will she move away from BRS?

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have something else in common apart from the language, Telugu. All the major regional political parties that have emerged in the last four decades have a history of sibling rivalry, mostly stemming from serious ideological differences. These tiffs, sometimes, percolated to personal level and burnt bridges.

 

The latest in the list is MLC and former MP, K. Kavitha, who is the daughter of former Telangana CM and BRS supremo, K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR). She has subtly raised a banner of revolt against her father and brother, K.T. Rama Rao, working president of BRS. The power struggle within the Kalvakuntla family is out in the open as a split seems likely.

 

An active member of the party, Kavitha has been one of the prominent faces of Telangana agitation and later, BRS. She even won the best parliamentarian award based for her performance as Nizamabad MP between 2014 and 2019. Kavitha started a cultural organisation, Telangana Jagruthi, which promoted Telangana identity. She experienced her first political setback in 2019 when she lost the Lok Sabha elections and remained away from limelight for almost a year. A few months prior, her brother was elevated to the role of working president following a landslide victory in assembly elections. This changed the political equations within the family as KTR became the second-in-command of the party and Kavitha’s image as a power centre eroded away.

 

A year and half later, the party nominated her for MLC’s post and she was back in active politics. However, problems plagued her soon after, as she was named an accused in the Delhi liquor scam case. She was arrested by the ED and lodged in Tihar jail in the first half of 2024. The BRS, which lost power by then, tasted a humiliating defeat in the 2024 general elections failing to win even a single Lok Sabha seat. A section of party members felt the liquor scam was one of the reasons. In August of 2024, she got bail and returned home but grew distant from the party.

 

Barring a few instances, it was clear that Kavitha was not being given importance in the party ever since she got embroiled in the case. Gradually it came to a point where she was fighting to stay relevant within the party and the political landscape by highlighting certain issues like BC reservations and others even while she was being systematically nudged out. A letter she wrote to her father was leaked recently where she was seen taking a critical stand on certain points which became a hot topic of discussion. It is still unclear who leaked the letter when she was away in the US. She came back to a rousing reception of her followers in the airport where not a single flag or image of BRS and KCR was seen outside the airport. Now, when her brother KTR is in the US, Kavitha held an informal meet with media personnel and revealed that BRS at one point was willing to merge with the BJP. She hinted that she will not back down and will continue to be in politics defying her family.

 

According to a trusted source within the BRS, the Kalvakuntla family including KCR and his son KTR, want Kavitha to stay away from politics. A mediator dispatched by the family recently met her and carried this message which was immediately turned down. There are multiple reasons for the current friction. KCR’s family do not wish any more trouble for Kavitha like the liquor scam case; they feel retiring from politics will safeguard her. The family feels that Kavitha could be a political liability to the family after the high-profile liquor scam case which damaged her image at the national level. Also, they want to avoid a messy power succession since there are already two probables – KTR and KCR’s nephew Harish Rao.

 

It has been learnt that Kavitha has kept her options open, including starting her own party.

 

The rift in the Kalvakuntla family will go down in history as another fight that broke out in a family due to political ambition and power tussle. A similar example can be found in the YSR family. Former CM Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s son, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and daughter, Y.S. Sharmila, too, had a bad fallout leading to Sharmila starting her own party and then joining the Congress and leading it, all while criticising her brother who headed YSR Congress Party (YSRCP). In this case too, Sharmila had political ambition and wanted to head in a certain direction which was opposed by her brother.

 

Another regional party which has sprung up in the last decade is Jana Sena Party (JSP) founded by actor Pawan Kalyan. Though the actor openly admires his elder brother and actor, Chiranjeevi, both have taken different routes, politically. Even after Pawan Kalyan started his party, Chiranjeevi stayed away from it and continued to be in the Congress.

 

Another set of siblings who have maintained political distance are actor Balakrishna and his sister, Purandeswari. Their father and iconic actor N.T. Rama Rao floated the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). Though Balakrishna continues to be in the TDP as an MLA, Purandeswari marched in the opposite direction joining Congress and serving as a Union minister and later, heading the BJP in Andhra Pradesh.

India