HYDERABAD: BRS president and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s silence on the arrest of his daughter and MLC K Kavitha by the Enforcement Directorate for her alleged role in Delhi liquor scam has become a subject of discussion in the party circles. Even though Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy described the arrest of Kavitha as political stunt of the BJP, the BRS chief chose not to react, taking all political leaders by surprise.
Kavitha’s arrest and defection of MPs and an MLA, which may affect the party’s prospects in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, have dealt a huge blow to the morale of the BRS cadre. But KCR’s uncharacteristic silence has left the party leaders in disarray. He reportedly held a meeting while the ED searches began at Kavitha’s residence and rushed his son and BRS working president KT Rama Rao and his nephew T Harish Rao to lend moral support to his daughter.
Explaining this unusual silence, some leaders say that KCR is busy talking to prominent lawyers in Delhi to bail out his daughter. He is also said to be busy tackling the biggest challenge of his political career: To stop defection of his party leaders. Five MPs and an MLA have already deserted the BRS and more are said to be planning to switch loyalties in the near future.
Revanth, who has proclaimed that the Congress doors are open to the BRS MLAs and his threaten to decimate the pink party, is believed to be giving sleepless nights to KCR.
The exit of sitting MPs who were assured of party ticket to contest again from their own segments in the upcoming LS polls is also believed to have troubled KCR. The beleaguered BRS chief is facing a huge challenge of winning a decent number of LS seats.
Another problem is also brewing for key members of the BRS as the Congress government is probing their role in the phone tapping issue during the Assembly elections.
A senior leader and former minister says that all these issues are occupying the attention of the BRS supremo, leaving him no time to make public statements. As of now, KCR’s main focus is on saving Kavitha as well as ensuring a decent performance by the BRS in the LS polls. He is said to be taking the phone tapping incident lightly as it’s related to officials.
Meanwhile, two key leaders of the party — KTR and Harish Rao — have been camping in Delhi and they are expected to stay put there until Kavitha gets relief in the Supreme Court where she has filed a contempt plea challenging her arrest by the ED.
The focus of the public as well as political leaders in the coming days will be on how KCR, a doughty and crafty leader who achieved statehood for Telangana and ruled the state for 10 years, is going to tackle these challenges.
Defections pose a serious threat to the BRS, but KCR has no moral authority to question the Congress move to keep its doors open to leaders from the opposition party as he himself engineered defection of 12 Congress MLAs in 2018 even after winning 88 Assembly seats.
