BRS Suspends MLC K Kavitha Over Public Criticism of Senior Leaders

NEW DELHI: The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on Tuesday suspended MLC K Kavitha, daughter of party president and former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), after she publicly accused senior leaders of corruption and damaging KCR’s reputation.

The decision, announced by BRS General Secretary S Bharat Kumar, was conveyed through an official statement on social media platform X. The party noted, “The leadership is taking this matter seriously, as the recent behaviour and ongoing anti-party activities of MLC K Kavitha are damaging the BRS. Party president K Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to suspend her from the party with immediate effect.”

The suspension followed Kavitha’s sharp criticism of her cousins — senior BRS leader and former minister T Harish Rao, and former Rajya Sabha MP J Santosh Kumar. She accused them of amassing assets and colluding with Congress Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to tarnish KCR’s image. Her remarks came in the wake of the Telangana government’s decision to order a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram irrigation project, a flagship initiative launched during the BRS regime.

Addressing reporters on Monday, Kavitha alleged that those close to her father had misused his name for personal gain. “KCR’s name is getting defamed today because of their misdeeds. How can the party move ahead if the same persons are encouraged?” she asked. She claimed that Harish Rao, who served as irrigation minister for five years, played a central role in the project’s failings and said her father had sidelined him in his second term. She also alleged that Santosh Kumar, along with an industrialist, contributed to the controversies surrounding the project.

Rejecting suggestions of political alignment, Kavitha asserted, “I am not a puppet to play to the tunes of the BJP or the Congress. KCR never thinks about food or money. But false accusations are being hurled at him. People will remember the Kaleshwaram project for 200 years. It is tragic that a great leader like KCR is now facing a CBI probe.”

The Telangana government has constituted a commission led by former Supreme Court judge Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose to investigate alleged irregularities, mismanagement of funds, and corruption in the construction of the Medigadda, Annaram, and Sundilla barrages of the Kaleshwaram project.