Kavitha’s Political Gamble And The BRS Struggle for Relevance In Telangana

Two decades after the formation of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which spearheaded the Telangana statehood movement, K. Chandrasekhar Rao sought to reinvent himself as a national player by rechristening the TRS as the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). But instead of expanding its influence, the party has been grappling with mounting crises. Successive electoral and organisational setbacks have eroded its standing, the latest being the suspension and subsequent resignation of Kavitha, Rao’s daughter, after a bitter family feud burst into the open, exposing the widening cracks within the party’s first family.

Political circles are closely watching the next move of Kavitha, the embattled daughter of the BRS chief. While party leaders have sought to downplay her resignation as inconsequential, some political observers Outlook spoke to believe the development could deepen the crisis within the BRS, already weakened by successive electoral defeats in 2023 and 2024.

“Ever since Chandrasekhar Rao appointed K.T. Rama Rao as his heir apparent, the rumblings within the party have only grown louder. Why he chose Rama Rao over Kavitha is open to speculation. Perhaps it was because she had lost an election, signalling weak ground support. Or, as some suggest, it could be the influence of a patriarchal mindset. But Kavitha, an ambitious politician, was unwilling to fade into the background. Her letter to her father, in which she derided her cousins at the party as ‘demons,’ was tactically leaked. To make matters worse for the BRS, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s move to order a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project has further intensified the crisis,” explained political analyst Gali Nagaraja.

The Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project, now at the centre of political controversy in Telangana, was conceived as a multi-purpose irrigation scheme on the Godavari River during K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s tenure. Allegations of large-scale irregularities prompted the Revanth Reddy government to order a judicial inquiry. The probe, led by retired Supreme Court judge P.C. Ghosh, held Chandrasekhar Rao’s autocratic decisions—taken by sidelining expert advice—responsible for the sinking of the Medigadda barrage and damage to other barrages, causing massive financial losses to the state.

Seizing the political moment, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy escalated the matter by ordering a CBI investigation into the alleged irregularities. While the BRS strongly denied any wrongdoing, the crisis deepened when Kavitha publicly blamed her cousin and former irrigation minister Harish Rao, along with Santhosh Rao, for the corruption allegations against her father. Her remarks, which appeared to validate the charges levelled by the Congress and BJP, triggered her suspension from the party and culminated in her resignation as both a BRS member and MLC.

Earlier, on several occasions, Kavitha took on party leadership on various issues. In the leaked letter to her father, she blamed him for being soft on the BJP and alleged that it had given a wrong signal to the party workers. She also accused him of not being ‘accessible’.

Nagarja tells Outlook that while Kavitha’s next move remains uncertain, the burden is now on her to prove herself as a leader of consequence. Yet, he warns, a string of setbacks and internal crises is steadily pushing the BRS into third place in state politics. “BRS is being relegated to the third position,” he observes.

Within the party, however, leaders view Kavitha's statement—pinning blame on her cousins and casting aspersions on the working president and her brother, K.T. Rama Rao—as a calculated provocation that left the leadership with little choice but to act against her.

For the Congress and BJP, the churn within the BRS has opened a fresh political opportunity. While the Congress seeks to consolidate its hold on power by targeting Chandrasekhar Rao over corruption charges, the BJP is attempting to project itself as the real alternative in Telangana, hoping to capitalise on the disarray within the state’s first regional party.

“When Revanth Reddy is already trying to damage the party, the way Kavitha chose to blame the leadership is not in good spirit,” says BRS general secretary and former MP B. Vinod Kumar. “I don’t know whether she raised these concerns within the family, but if she had issues, they should have been addressed inside the party. Instead, she went public after Harish Rao had already given a point-by-point rebuttal to the ruling party’s allegations regarding the irrigation project. That was not in good spirit,” he tells Outlook.

Even those sympathetic to Kavitha concede that floating a new political party and carving out space in Telangana’s crowded political landscape is easier said than done. Her cultural outfit, Telangana Jagruthi, had once enjoyed open backing from the BRS, with many of its members doubling as party workers. But after Kavitha began voicing dissent against the leadership, senior BRS leaders gradually distanced themselves from the organisation. The shift became evident when she inaugurated a new office for Jagruthi. The event was conspicuous for the absence of BRS leaders.

“Kavitha is not a mass leader, and I don’t see her exit from the BRS making any major impact. Of course, there will be some disturbances, and opponents will try to capitalise on that. But to make a real political impact, ground support is essential. The cultural organisation she heads is essentially an extension of the party establishment. To expect that Kavitha can suddenly emerge as a force in Telangana politics is naïve,” political analyst Prof. K. Nageshwar tells Outlook.

For the BRS, the turmoil comes at a time when the party is already struggling to recover from back-to-back electoral setbacks. The public rift within the founding family has only deepened perceptions of disarray, providing both Congress and the BJP with fresh ammunition. While Revanth Reddy is working to cement Congress’s dominance by cornering K. Chandrasekhar Rao, the BJP sees an opportunity to position itself as the state’s main alternative.

As for Kavitha, her suspension may not immediately alter Telangana’s political landscape, but her next steps —charting a new path or fading into political irrelevance—remain an open question that many in the state are keenly watching.