The exit of Kalvakuntla Kavitha, daughter of former Telangana chief minister and BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, from the party could not have come at a worse time for the ageing patriarch.
Having lost the assembly and Lok Sabha elections, KCR has confined himself to his farmhouse, leaving his son K T Rama Rao and nephew Harish Rao to take on the ruling Congress.
However, increasing attacks from the Congress, including the latest government move to order a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram irrigation project, have put the BRS in a spot of bother. It is under these circumstances that Kavitha’s dissenting voice crossed a red line.
The immediate trigger for KCR to suspend his daughter was her public outburst against Harish, whom she accused of playing a major role in Kaleshwaram and dragging her father into a CBI probe. Her remarks indirectly endorsed the Congress's allegations.
But his action made her double down and resign from both the party and the legislative council, and going so far as to accuse Harish of seeking to take over the party.
Sensational as her allegations are, the episode is essentially a family feud. It is a truism that all family-run parties face internal power struggles at some point. Kavitha’s ambitions were thwarted, in contrast to her brother’s fortunes. While KTR was made the party's working president, she remained a member of the council with no position in the party.
The Delhi liquor scam, in which she was jailed, did not help her cause. Following her release, she was not, in her words, allowed to take an active role. The stifling atmosphere and dwindling political capital perhaps turned her into a rebel. In reality, her words and actions are aimed as much against her father, for it is he who is the deciding authority.
What could be the political fallout of Kavitha’s exit? She is no mass leader to split the party. Floating a new outfit is easier said than done, which leaves her with the option of joining the Congress or the BJP. The danger for BRS is that she could dent its prospects.
The more the BRS is weakened, the stronger will be the other opposition party, the BJP—and therein lies the real fallout. KCR could have avoided this, but then, a patriarchal mindset seems to have made it inevitable.