HYDERABAD: BRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday suspended his daughter and MLC K Kavitha from the party for “anti-party activities”.
BRS general secretaries Soma Bharat Kumar and T Ravinder Rao issued a statement announcing KCR’s decision. “Recent activities of Kavitha are causing damage to the party. With this, party chief K Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to suspend Kavitha from the party with immediate effect,” the statement said.
Kavitha has called a press conference on Wednesday where sources said she is likely to announce her resignation as MLC and as a member of the BRS.
During the course of the day, it was clear that the BRS had shored up its ranks with KCR and its leaders avoiding Kavitha. A handful of her supporters gathered at the Telangana Jagruthi office where they specifically shouted slogans against former minister T Harish Rao.
Meanwhile, the state presidents of both the Congress and BJP made it clear that there are no open doors for Kavitha. They described the goings-on in the BRS as an “internal family squabble over distribution of loot from corruption”.
Kavitha has been at odds with the party leadership for months. Following the state government’s decision to order a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project, Kavitha accused Harish Rao and former MP J Santosh Kumar of indulging in massive corruption, which she claimed damaged KCR’s image.
The fact that Kavitha attacked Harish Rao at the time he was leading the BRS defence against the Congress attack and rebutting allegations of corruption in Kaleshwaram was seen as the last straw by the BRS.
KCR spoke to KTR before decision
BRS leaders said these remarks were a key factor in the suspension. In May, a letter she wrote to her father was leaked, in which she alleged that KCR was surrounded by “devils.” Since then, she has distanced herself from the party and revived activities through Telangana Jagruthi. She also recently described BRS MLA and former minister G Jagadish Reddy as a “Lilliput”.
Before finalising the decision, KCR held consultations with BRS working president KT Rama Rao and senior leaders including G Jagadish Reddy and Palla Rajeshwar Reddy. Kavitha, who represented Nizamabad in the Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019, lost her seat in the 2019 elections. She was elected to the Legislative Council from Nizamabad Local Bodies in 2020 and re-elected in 2022.