BRS family drama: Kavitha stares at uncertain future

After raising the banner of revolt against what she calls the “ring of devils” surrounding her father and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) founder and patriarch K. Chandrashekar Rao, K. Kavitha finds herself isolated in the party and the family. For the BRS, already weakened after its 2023 assembly defeat and internal rifts, Kavitha’s revolt marks a fresh crisis.

Soon after she was suspended, Kavitha quit the party and resigned as MLC, capping an intense family drama centred on the predictable themes of loyalty, betrayal, power and pelf. Kavitha’s startling allegations of corruption against her cousins — former minister T. Harish Rao and former Rajya Sabha member Santosh Rao, both close confidants of KCR — was met with hushed silence in the party.

What embarrassed the BRS further was that Kavitha’s revolt came a day after the Congress government in Telangana announced a CBI probe into allegations of irregularities in the execution of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP), a flagship initiative of the state during the BRS government.

With allegations of corruption against her own party seniors, Kavitha, a former MP from Nizamabad, has practically vindicated the ruling Congress’s position that massive irregularities took place in the execution of the Kaleshwaram project.

Tensions began to emerge in KCR’s family soon after the BRS lost the assembly polls in December 2023. Since then, Kavitha has been demanding a bigger role for herself in the party. The sibling rivalry deepened further when she made it clear that she would not accept KTR as her leader. For now, though, she has refrained from attacking KTR directly.

BRS family drama intensifies; Kavitha accuses cousins of corruption

The timing of her attack on her cousins has stunned political circles. She accused Harish and Santosh of amassing huge assets while making her father a ‘scapegoat’ in the Kaleshwaram scam. “When a great leader like KCR is forced to face a CBI inquiry, does it even matter whether BRS survives or not?” she asks.

“Why didn’t BRS call a Telangana bandh when Revanth Reddy announced a CBI probe into Kaleshwaram?” she asks. Losing an election is one thing, but losing one’s honour is far worse, she says.

Marwaris unwanted

An innocuous altercation over parking between a group of Dalit youth and Marwari businessmen in a crowded Hyderabad market has snowballed into a statewide agitation targeting the trading community.

There are an estimated two lakh Marwari business families in the city, which witnessed the first wave of migration from Rajasthan and Gujarat in the mid-19th century during the rule of the Nizams. The Marwaris have since made Hyderabad their home for generations.

While anti-Marwari sentiment is not new to the local trading community, especially the Arya Vysya, it has gained momentum following the recent incident, and what started in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad soon spread across the state, with protestors calling bandhs in some towns.

Mainstream political parties have so far steered clear of the row but it’s hard to predict what new turn the agitation might take in the coming days. Political observers point to the lack of jobs as the reason for growing frustration among the youth. This, they say, has resulted in the unfair targeting of Marwaris.

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Representatives of Arya Vysya, Viswabrahmin and Viswakarma associations have also expressed concern that Marwaris are infiltrating Telangana villages and destroying their livelihoods. While the ruling Congress is treading cautiously, avoiding any public comments, BJP leader and Union MoS for home Bandi Sanjay threw his weight behind the Marwaris and said the present campaign was part of a conspiracy to divide the Hindu community.

Healing touch

There’s nothing unusual about a chief minster visiting a university campus — unless it happens to be Hyderabad’s Osmania University.

No chief minister has stepped inside Osmania University, which witnessed violent demonstrations, mass arrests and prolonged academic disruption at the height of the Telangana agitation.

KCR, the state’s first chief minister, did not visit the campus during his nearly decade-long tenure. The student community was bitter and angry because the job opportunities promised post-bifurcation remained elusive. No wonder current chief minister Revanth Reddy’s appearance at an official function made headlines.

Loaded with symbolism, his visit to the campus was seen as an attempt to build bridges with the students and faculty and to repair relationships. Reddy inaugurated a modern digital library-cum-reading room, built at a cost of Rs 10 crore, and launched a scheme to provide financial assistance to students for foreign educational trips. He also announced the ‘CM Research Fellowship’ to support advanced academic research.