NIZAMABAD: “I will stay in Nizamabad district. I will continue my political journey here. Winning and losing elections are a part of life,” said TRS leader Kalvakuntla Kavitha on Monday. Kavitha, daughter of TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, had recently been defeated by BJP’s Dharmapuri Arvind in Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency.
Local TRS leaders had claimed that an activist from Manchippa village of Mopal Mandal, Kishore, had suffered of a heart attack when he learned of Kavitha’s defeat on May 23. He died the next day. Kishore’s family too confirmed the TRS leaders’ claims. On Monday, Kavitha, Minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy, several MLAs and MLCs visited Kishore’s home. Kavitha assured his family that the party would take care of them. She broke down while speaking to them.
“Kishore had worked hard during the campaign. He truly believed I would win in the constituency,” said an emotional Kavitha. Speaking to reporters later, the former MP said, “The people voted for the BJP candidate as they had believed Modi coming back to power was inevitable. I hope the newly-elected MP (D Arvind) will fulfil his promises.”
Kavitha maintained that she would continue working from Nizamabad. “Winning and losing is common in politics. We have to take such defeats in the right spirit. I am committed to continuing my political journey in Nizamabad,” she said. The TRS leader also spoke of her previous experiences with defeat. “Due to our days in the Telangana movement, we know what defeat feels like. But we will continue with courage and a positive attitude towards achieving our aim of ‘Bangaru Telangana’,” she said.
Shock defeat
Kavitha was replaced as Nizamabad MP by BJP’s D Arvind. She lost by more than 70,000 votes. She was not the only TRS leader to have bitten the dust on May 23, the day the votes were counted. In Karimnagar, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao’s close confidante Vinod Kumar lost to BJP’s B Sanjay Kumar