An uneasy atmosphere is prevailing in the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) following the summons issued by Justice P C Ghose commission to party president and former Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and his nephew T Harish Rao over the alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project, asking them to appear for questioning in the first week of June.
Now, a new controversy has now escalated the tension further.
A six-page letter purportedly written by BRS leader and MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha, to her father KCR surfaced in the media, and has become a hot topic in Telangana political circles.
Kavitha’s recent tone and comments over the past few days have also sparked intense debate within the BRS. A few days ago, she stirred controversy by claiming that “social justice was not delivered during the past ten years.” These remarks are being interpreted as strong criticism of her own father’s governance.
Amid speculation that KCR is preparing to hand over party leadership responsibilities to his son and BRS working president K T Rama Rao (KTR), Kavitha appears to have changed her tone—perhaps indicating resistance or concern.
The surfacing of Kavitha’s letter at this juncture has added more heat to the ongoing internal storm. While congratulating KCR and the party for successfully conducting the public meeting at Elkaturthy in Warangal on April 27, she raised several crucial issues that would embarrass her father.
Some of the points raised by Kavitha in her letter are:
- Lack of accessibility to party leadership: Kavitha complained that many party leaders are not able to directly access the leadership.
- No clarity on BJP alliance: During the party's Silver Jubilee meeting, KCR reportedly failed to give a clear stance on whether BRS would ally with the BJP. He spoke about the BJP for only two minutes, which Kavitha found insufficient.
- Failure to strongly oppose BJP: Kavitha criticized the leadership for not targeting the BJP aggressively enough. This has led to speculation that BRS might be planning an alliance with the BJP.
- Weak grassroots support for Congress, rising belief in BJP as an alternative: She mentioned that the cadre now sees the BJP as a possible alternative due to eroding trust in Congress.
- BRS indirectly helped BJP in MLC elections: By not contesting in the MLC elections, BRS is perceived to have helped the BJP—a message that Congress used to its advantage.
- KCR's selective accessibility: Kavitha noted that even senior party leaders such as ZPTCs, ZP chairpersons, and MLAs are complaining about KCR being inaccessible and only meeting select individuals.
- Lack of recognition for movement leaders at Warangal public meeting: She pointed out that those who have been with the party since 2001 were not given a chance to speak.
- Old in-charges being retained: The continued appointment of old in-charges has disappointed the party cadre, according to her.
- No support for local election candidates: Kavitha recommended that B-forms (party tickets) be directly issued from the party office to aspirants contesting in local elections.
- Neglect of crucial community-related issues: No mention of the Waqf Bill at the Warangal meeting, ignoring the issues of SC sub-categorization and 42% reservation for BCs.
Though the Warangal meeting was deemed a success, she argued that these concerns should have been addressed as well.
Interestingly, this letter emerged while Kavitha is currently in the United States, lending it greater significance. This led to the talk that KTR got the letter leaked deliberately to blame Kavitha for trying to weaken the party by revolting against her own father.
KTR’s followers are now questioning why Kavitha is raising all these issues only now. It is also being recalled that KCR was previously criticized for being so inaccessible that even ministers struggled to get appointments with him — let alone MLAs.
