BRS churn: With KCR on the wane, Kavitha throws hat in the ring

On Sunday (December 29), a belligerent Kavitha Kalvakuntla, daughter of BRS supremo and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, garlanded the party’s version of Telangana Talli (Mother Telangana) statue at Nizamabad.

Promoting different versions of Telangana Talli, other than the official, unveiled on December 9 in Hyderabad by chief minister A Revanth Reddy, is an offence. Unfazed, she went ahead to pay respects to the statue designed by her father. She also asked the people to do the same.

Though it was her first visit to the town after being released from Delhi’s Tihar Jail where she was lodged in connection with Delhi excise scam for 5 months, she declared a virtual war on the Congress government.

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The Kavitha saga

The alleged involvement of Kavita in the Delhi scandal had tarnished the image of the party and the family alike and it is said to be a reason for the Bharata Rashtra Samiti’s rout in the 2023 Assembly elections.

Embarrassed, she had been silent ever since her release from jail on August 27, 2024. But suddenly, the 46-year-old former MP and mother of two has become hyper active.

“Our blood cannot be intimidated,” she thundered. “It will intimidate you, if you want to foist false cases on me and my brother KTR.”

KTR’s mounting troubles

The show of militancy comes amid questions as to who will lead the party in case her brother and the party’s working president KT Ramarao (KTR) is arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) after December 31.

KTR, an accused in the Formula E Car Race corruption case, has got relief from the High Court against arrest till December 31. However, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing money laundering in the Formula transactions, has told KTR to come for a personal appearance on January 7.

Political circles are agog that his arrest, which looks imminent, is bound to land the BRS in leadership crisis. KTR has been running the show as his father is confined to a farmhouse after the party's electoral rout.

Kavitha versus Harish

Many people think that KCR’s daughter’s renewed activism is her way of laying claim for the party leadership. She needs to prove she has not been broken by the jailing and that she enjoys enough support from BRS MLAs, MPs and cadre.

A show of strength is necessary because she has to outwit her brother-in-law and KCR’s nephew T Harish Rao, who is the formidable competitor for the party leadership.

After the BRS rout in November 2023 and drawing a blank in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, KCR withdrew from public sphere.

The disappearing KCR

People cite two reasons for his disappearance: first, he was disheartened that people chose to defeat a man who fought for statehood for Telangana and, second, his failing health.

He has confined0 himself to the farmhouse in his constituency Gajwel while his son ran the party with his nephew and former minister Harish Rao, who is generally seen as the potential rival to KTR in the race for leadership.

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The 52-year-old charismatic Harish Rao is quintessentially an organizational man and easily accessible. When the party was in power, it was Harish Rao who acted as the first port of call for party leaders as meeting KCR was unthinkable and even a meeting with KTR was next to impossible.

Harish’s importance in BRS

For ordinary party leaders who had no access to Twitter, where KTR was extremely active, Harish Rao was there to fall back upon. Down to earth, Harish Rao was a bridge between the inaccessible KCR and the party.

Before the arrival of KTR on the political scene a few months before the 2014 general election, Harish Rao was the point man of KCR. This brought him closer to the party members.

Given his popularity, people naturally favour Harish Rao if they were to give an option to choose between Kavita and Harish, said a party functionary.

KCR’s dilemma

Many said it was Harish Rao's imposing presence that put paid to KCR’s plans to make son KTR the chief minister after the 2019 election when the BRS returned to power with 88 seats out of 119. KCR feared that any misadventure to appoint KTR as chief minister would have created a rift in the party.

KCR had to put the leadership change on the backburner and satisfy himself by appointing his son as the working president of the party.

Now, with the threat of KTR’s arrest looming, KCR is expected to take a call on the leadership issue. He has to pick between Harish Rao, an organizational man, and Kavita, whose image is sullied by Delhi scam and the Tihar Jail.

Harish the best choice?

K Rangaiah, a veteran journalist, said Harish Rao, with his proven ability, was the best option to lead the party.

“A leader with a positive image is crucial for the party’s revival given the challenges the party is facing from the Congress and BJP,” he said.

Party insiders said KCR was also opposed to Kavita’s re-entry at this juncture. They said Kavita’s insistence on hitting the road has reportedly created differences in the family.

KTR versus Kavitha versus Harish

“The reason behind KTR’s sudden announcement in the first week of December of taking a wellness break for some time was Kavita’s refusal to lie low,” an informed source told The Federal.

“But KCR is said to have persuaded the son to return as his absence would be bound to give room for new gossip. So, KTR had to cut short his trip to return to Hyderabad,” the source said.

Tough times ahead for KCR

B Keshavulu Neta, an analyst and president of Telangana Medhavula Vedika, said KCR might not want to invite another headache if his son is arrested by appointing a successor to KTR.

“He cannot afford to ignore Harish and nor can he favour his daughter because of the case against her. KCR is likely to postpone the issue by assigning them work in two regions: North Telangana to Kavita and South Telangana to Harish,” he said.

Either way it is going to be a tough time for KCR and the party as chief minister A Revanth Reddy appears hellbent on taking all the corruption charges against KCR and KTR to the logical conclusion, Keshavulu said.