Trouble In Paradise? BRS Crisis Deepens As Kavitha Questions KTR, Junks BJP Merger, Reaffirms Loyalty To KCR

Telangana's regional party, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), is facing internal turmoil, with a leadership tussle unfolding between former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao's (KCR's) children.

His daughter, K Kavitha, took a veiled swipe at her brother and BRS working president, K T Rama Rao (KTR), during a media interaction on Thursday morning.

Photo Credit: PTI

Kavitha has been in the spotlight following the leak of a letter she had written to KCR on 2 May, reported The Indian Express.

In the letter, which surfaced in mid-May, she criticised her father for failing to confront the BJP in the state.

Currently, the Congress holds power in Telangana, with both the BRS and BJP in opposition.

Speaking to the press, Kavitha stated, "I have only one leader, that is KCR. I will work only under one leader, that is KCR."

Without explicitly naming her brother, she accused some within the party of attempting to facilitate a merger with the BJP.

"An offer was made to merge BRS with BJP when I was in prison. I said a resounding 'No' to it at that time because BRS is a regional party which should be alive to represent and safeguard the concerns of Telangana people," she revealed.

Kavitha was arrested in March last year by the Enforcement Directorate and later by the CBI in connection with the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. She spent five months in custody before securing bail.

She went on to claim that "covert operatives in the party" were working against her, despite her continued loyalty to the organisation.

Kavitha, who heads the party's women's wing and serves as a Member of the Legislative Council, criticised the party's recent inactivity.

"The party's activities are being limited to Twitter posts," she said.

She questioned the lack of public mobilisation when her father was summoned by a Congress-appointed inquiry committee investigating alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, which was undertaken during the BRS government's tenure.

Again, without naming KTR, she claimed that she was being targeted by "some sections in the party" for being honest.

"Is there anything in my letter which was untrue or unreasonable?" she asked.

She also addressed the accusations that she herself had leaked the letter, insisting that the real culprits should be held accountable.

"There should be some sort of accountability. Those who leaked the letter should face the music," she said.

In response to allegations that she is receiving support from rival parties to undermine the BRS, she dismissed such claims.

"It is being alleged that the Congress is giving me support. It is absolutely untrue. I do not do covert politics. I speak my heart as I am doing right now," she declared.

While KTR has remained mostly quiet on the letter controversy, he previously stated that "there is internal party democracy" and that "anyone can write letters to KCR."

To this, Kavitha responded, "Someone has declared that there is democracy within the party. Then why is the girl child of the house (Kalvakuntla family home) being dragged through the muck because she wrote a letter? I have written over a hundred letters to my father and party president, as that is my way of operating within the party."

Her press conference coincided with KTR's foreign tour aimed at drumming up support for the BRS.

Regarding her brother's travels, Kavitha remarked, "What is being celebrated abroad when there is no grassroots mobilisation for the party in Telangana?"