Telangana MLA K Kavitha has been suspended by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), headed by her father and former Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), after publicly alleging that senior BRS leader and her cousin, T Harish Rao, was behind the federal probe against KCR.
In a Tuesday afternoon release, BRS leaders T Ravinder Rao and Soma Bharat Kumar stated that the action was taken against K Kavitha for her "anti-party" comments.
"Party leadership is taking this matter seriously as recent behaviour and ongoing anti-party activities of MLC K Kavitha are damaging the BRS," the party said on X, "Therefore, party President K Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to suspend K Kavitha with immediate effect."
Ms. Kavitha's supporters organised protests immediately after the decision. Ravi Rathod, Youth Vice President of Telangana Jagruthi, said, "Injustice has been done."
The Telangana Jagruthi is a cultural and social organisation established by Ms. Kavitha during the agitation for the formation of Telangana from the erstwhile undivided state of Andhra Pradesh.
On Monday, Ms. Kavitha charged Harish Rao—then Irrigation Minister in the BRS government in 2014—and former Rajya Sabha MP J Santosh Kumar with conspiring with the present Chief Minister, Congress leader A Revanth Reddy, to accumulate wealth and defame KCR.
"We have to think about why the taint of corruption came to KCR. Some who are close to KCR benefited in many ways by making use of his name," she had said, adding, "Did Harish Rao, who was Irrigation Minister for five years, not have a major role in this?"
She contended that this was the reason Mr. Rao was not kept as Irrigation Minister in KCR's second term. Ms. Kavitha also indicated Revanth Reddy was "protecting" Harish Rao and Santosh Kumar, meaning they were "hand-in-glove" to target KCR. She was confident that her father would come out "as pure as a pearl" of the CBI investigation and stated it was painful to see him undergo all this as his daughter.
Her comments came after the Congress-led Telangana government had agreed to turn over an investigation into suspected irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project to the CBI.
The same day, BRS Working President KT Rama Rao—Ms. Kavitha's brother—commended Mr. Rao, calling his points made during a debate on the PC Ghose Commission Report on irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project a "master class."
Ms. Kavitha and the BRS have been on tetchy terms for a long while. Last month, KTR set her aside by making Koppula Eashwar the party in-charge of a powerful coal miners' union, a position that Ms. Kavitha also held before as Honorary President. The action set tongues wagging about a sibling power struggle.
The "BRS vs BRS" war broke out earlier in the month of May after a private letter written by Ms. Kavitha to KCR—allegedly leaked by one of KTR's close aides—about her anxiety over internal "conspiracies" against KCR.
Asked who might be behind the 'conspiracy', she said: "KCR ji is a god. But, there are some devils around him. A lot of damage is being caused because of them. I am KCR's daughter. If the letter by me internally became public, there should be a debate about the fate of others."
Ms Kavitha later told NDTV she has "no differences" with KTR. Indeed, she claimed a "special relationship" with the former state minister and her brother. "I have absolutely no qualms about admitting it... I've said it twice and I'm saying it again," she also said in that exclusive interview, doubling down on talk of 'vested interests' trying to damage her reputation within the BRS.
She has earlier condemned patriarchal thinking in political parties, including the one she belongs to, while discussing the Women's Reservation Bill, and pointed out that BRS too has not given enough chances to women to fight elections.
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