What led to ‘Princess of Telangana’ K Kavitha’s downfall?

Until her arrest in the Delhi liquor policy case in March 2024, Kalvakuntla Kavitha was seen as the “Princess of Telangana”. As the Lok Sabha MP from Nizamabad (2014–2019), she built her base in Delhi, becoming the face of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) there. To prevent competition for her, her father, BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) did not even include any women in his first Cabinet, a move that was widely criticized.

Today, the same KCR decided to suspend her from the party, dealing an unexpected shock to Kavitha, now an MLC in the Telangana Assembly. While the suspension has been endorsed by senior party leaders, as stated by general secretaries T Ravinder Rao and Soma Bharat Kumar, the next question doing the rounds is whether she will be thrown out of the party altogether.

So, what led to Kavitha’s downfall?

Family rivalries

The official reason cited is “anti-party activities”, but if we get deeper into it, Kavitha had been acting very aggressively on issues concerning key leaders within the party for quite some time now. Her allegation of corruption by T Harish Rao — her brother-in-law — and Joginapalli Santosh — her cousin — in the construction of the Kaleshwaram project created a sensation across the state.

The serious allegations she made against them raised a storm even within the party. Her comments were seen as confirming the allegations being made by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy of the Congress regarding corruption in the said project. Kavitha openly alleged that both Harish and Santosh colluded with the contractor and made huge sums of money.

These public allegations escalated the party’s internal conflicts to a peak and even pushed the party’s first family into a crisis. KCR’s action is being seen as a desperate measure to prevent Kavitha from making further revelations and worsening the situation. After a three-hour-long meeting with party leaders on Tuesday (September 2), KCR decided to suspend her. Party insiders suggest that she may even be expelled.

Also read: Kavitha alleges conspiracy in BRS after being replaced as union chief

Where did the ‘princess’ slip?

After the formation of Telangana in 2014, Kavitha dominated the party’s politics along with her brother KT Rama Rao (KTR). What they said was considered final. KTR was a minister in the state government, with authority across the state, while Kavitha, as an MP, took care of things in Delhi.

Her “cultural organization”, the Telangana Jagruthi, grew into a quasi-political force. The prominence she gained through Jagruthi and state-sponsored Bathukamma festivals, which received massive government funding, elevated her stature further.

But this led to the inevitable debate — who would inherit KCR’s political legacy, KTR or Kavitha? Many believe this sowed the seeds of rivalry within the family.

Projects turned into ATMs

After KCR returned to power in 2019, the family’s dominance grew even stronger. His nephew Joginapalli Santosh Kumar became a Rajya Sabha MP, while his son was a Cabinet minister and virtually No. 2 in government. Another nephew was a minister, and Kavitha herself was the “princess”. This gave rise to criticism that KCR’s family had cornered all positions of power.

In Delhi, Kavitha allegedly tried to influence the liquor policy and secure licences for Telugu liquor businessmen. Meanwhile, top national-level leaders like the BJP’s Narendra Modi and Amit Shah and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacked KCR’s family for turning state projects into personal “ATMs”.

Also read: Supreme Court grants bail to BRS leader K Kavitha in Delhi excise policy case

Delhi liquor policy scam

While Kavitha has made the same corruption allegation against Harish and Santosh, she, too, is not free of blame. As the liquor policy turned into a major scam, her name featured prominently, leading to her arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in March 2024. Her arrest crippled the party in the Lok Sabha elections.

As people of Telangana watch the party behind the statehood movement, its first family, and top leaders fade out within a mere 10 years, ultimately, neither outsiders nor rivals inflicted this black mark on them—the rot came from within.

As Kavitha goes down trying to take others down in her elite family, the consequences of her father’s decision will be interesting to watch out for.

(This story originally appeared in The Federal Telangana)