A dramatic turn of events unfolded within the Telangana opposition party BRS, with K. Kavitha, daughter of party founder K. Chandrashekhara Rao, being suspended for “anti-party activities” on Tuesday.
Political rivals, including the ruling Congress and the BJP, have largely framed this as an internal family matter, though they’ve been quick to leverage Kavitha’s corruption allegations against her cousins, who are senior BRS leaders, to attack KCR and his party. Her persistent accusations against her cousins, former irrigation minister T. Harish Rao and former MP J. Santosh Rao, of corrupt practices ultimately led to her suspension, with the announcement delivered by BRS general secretary, T. Ravinder Rao.
This decision triggered immediate protests from supporters of Telangana Jagruti, a social organization founded by Kavitha. Kavitha accused her cousins of accumulating vast assets, implicating her father, KCR, in the alleged irregularities related to the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project. Her supporters asserted that she had been treated unfairly.
Opponents of BRS have dismissed the situation as a carefully orchestrated political drama. N. Ramchander Rao, the BJP’s Telangana state president, utilized Kavitha’s claims to criticize the former CM and his party, indicating that her allegations exposed corruption during the BRS government and exposed how the family was arguing over the distribution of ill-gotten gains. Mahesh Kumar Goud, president of Telangana Congress, called Kavitha’s suspension a pre-planned event, and claimed KCR’s family looted public resources.
On Monday, Kavitha accused Harish and Santosh of engaging in corruption in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation project, which is now under CBI investigation. Following her allegations, the Telangana government decided to order a CBI probe. Furthermore, a judicial commission has been established to investigate the alleged irregularities.