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K Kavitha – suspended from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi by father and ex-Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao – quit this afternoon. “I have no greed for posts. I am resigning from the BRS and submitting my resignation to the (Legislative Council) Speaker,” she said.
As she quit, she also urged her father – whom she referred to in May as a ‘God surrounded by devils‘ – to re-evaluate the intentions and worth of his advisors, claiming a cohort within the BRS planned to, and had, “broken the BRS family for their own financial and political interests”.
The Telangana MLC told reporters today she had worked hard after being released from Delhi’s Tihar Jail in August last year – she had been arrested in connection with the alleged liquor policy scam – and could not understand how any of these could be seen as “anti-party” activities.
“I participated in various programs and worked for reservations for backward class, and in other initiatives against the Congress (which is in power in Telangana) while wearing the BRS flag. I don’t understand how these constitute ‘anti-party’ activities,” she said.
Ms Kavitha also doubled down on allegations against cousin and senior BRS leader T Harish Rao, claiming he and the Congress’ Chief Minister, Revanth Reddy, had conspired to target her family, i.e., her father, KCR, and her brother, BRS Working President KT Rama Rao.
“Revanth Reddy should answer for this. He booked cases against only my family members – KTR and KCR, but not against Harish Rao. When the Kaleshwaram (irrigation) project began, Harish Rao was Irrigation Minister and Revanth Reddy didn’t speak out against him,” she said darkly.
“Harish Rao and Santosh Rao are planning to destroy our family and party.”
“I have never worked against the interests of the Telangana people… but some BRS leaders have vested interests and think only of their benefits. They have taken the lead to put pressure on my father to expel me… I ask my father to examine the true intentions of those around you…”
Ms Kavitha had been suspended Thursday evening; a brief statement cited her “recent behaviour and ongoing anti-party activities” as reason for the disciplinary action.
On Monday she had accused Mr Rao – Telangana’s Irrigation Minister when the BRS was in power, back in 2014 – and ex-Rajya Sabha MP J Santosh Kumar for colluding with Mr Reddy.
“We have to think about why the taint of corruption came to KCR. Some who are close to KCR benefited in many ways by making use of his name,” she had said, adding, “Did Harish Rao, who was Irrigation Minister for five years, not have a major role in this?”
She said that was why he did not continue in his role in KCR’s second term.
Today she said, “Some party members made comments and I responded. I spoke about Harish Rao and Santosh, saying ‘golden Telangana’ isn’t when gold is in their houses. I also spoke to my brother KTR (BRS Working President KT Rama Rao) about people plotting against me…”
“But I am happy the BRS women MLAs came together after my suspension…” she said. News of her suspension was received with disbelief by supporters, including women leaders in the party.
K Kavitha’s allegations came a day after the Congress-led government in Telangana handed an investigation into alleged irregularities concerning the Kaleshwaram project to the CBI.
