Southern Lights | Why K Kavitha's arrest is not a BRS poll plank

The BRS's cautious approach over K Kavitha’s arrest indicates a strategy to distance itself from past controversies and focus on broader issues in the election.

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi's (BRS) unusual restraint on not soliciting sympathy during the election campaign over former member of Parliament (MP) K Kavitha’s arrest in the alleged Delhi liquor scam has evoked surprise and suspicion given that the 2024 elections are crucial for the regional party to regain its popularity among the masses. While Opposition parties, particularly the Congress in Telangana, ask probingly if there is a tacit agreement between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the BRS on Kavitha’s early release, political analysts, and civil society members wonder if she has now become politically untouchable.

New Delhi, Mar 23 (ANI): BRS MLC K Kavitha being brought to Rouse Avenue Court to be produced before the Special Judge in connection with the Delhi Excise policy case (ANI Photo/ Amit Sharma) (Amit Sharma)

Kavitha’s absence from the BRS’s poll pitch is conspicuous because the arrests of Delhi chief minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal and former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren have become rallying points in the Aam Aadmi Party and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s campaigns. Kavitha is currently lodged in Tihar jail and was taken into custody from her Hyderabad residence on March 15 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to investigate the money laundering allegations against her in connection with the Delhi excise policy case. Throughout the state election, Kavitha sought votes for the BRS as a star campaigner asking the electorate to vote for her father and former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR). The party workers and the general public now refer to her in hushed tones, this reporter gathered during the ongoing campaign.

Responding to the allegation of being in cahoots with the BJP, current Suryapet member of the legislative assembly and former state energy minister G Jagadish Reddy said, “No one wants to be friends with the BJP. They are looking to wipe regional parties off the map of southern India by arresting our leaders. We are fighting them tooth and nail.”

K Kavitha: A liability or a lightweight politician?

The reluctance to weave in Kavitha’s arrest as part of the campaign narrative stems from her unpopularity among the party cadres, members of BRS from Nizamabad and Gajwel constituencies whom HT spoke to said. “She was the president of the Telangana Jagruti Samithi, a cultural organisation. Apart from that, she was not active in the Telangana statehood movement, unlike the other leaders who were part of the revolution. Her identity comes from her being her father’s daughter,” said one of the district-level leaders who did not wish to be named.

And her identity is perhaps her nemesis. Koteswara Rao, a columnist and a political commentator, surmised why the BRS had not used the Kavitha card during the election. “After Kejriwal’s arrest and with the CBI stepping in as well, the party may have some information about her complicity. For obvious reasons, the BRS would not like to offer fodder to the Opposition to criticise her. Secondly, the BRS lost the election because of the family's excessive involvement in the government’s affairs, so using Kavitha as bait for sympathy may not be ideal for the party. Finally, the matter is subjudice. Given that KCR was already banned from campaigning for 48 hours by the Election Commission because he violated the model code of conduct, the party supremo may want to steer clear of any negative publicity,” Rao said.

KCR and his family — son KT Rama Rao, daughter Kavitha, and nephews T Harish Rao and Santosh Kumar — suffered the ill reputation of running the government while restricting the public’s access to ministers and senior party leaders. In fact, for the record, KCR never functioned from the secretariat in his second term and instead chose to operate out of his farmhouse in Gajwel, his constituency, which is about two hours from Hyderabad. After the drubbing in the assembly election, close to a dozen BRS leaders blamed the family for the loss and deserted the party to join the BJP and the Congress.

Kavitha's standing in the party was questioned as well because she did not choose to contest the state election and chose to remain a member of the legislative council (MLC). When she failed to secure a Lok Sabha ticket from Nizamabad, where she contested twice but won only once in 2014, Kavitha’s future as a politician was raised in many internal meetings, BRS insiders familiar with the matter said. Her subsequent arrest on March 15 put her in limbo.

Shortly after Kavitha’s arrest, Madhavi Latha, the BJP firebrand first-timer and the party’s candidate from the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat, said, “KCR’s family spared neither water nor alcohol while duping people. While KCR took the state to the cleaners with the Kaleshwaram irrigation project, Kavitha ensured not just Telangana, but even Delhiites were drenched in alcohol. The law enforcement agencies are doing their job, they should be allowed to take action based on the evidence they have found.”

Those who have seen Kavitha’s trajectory as a politician say her life has come a full circle from being a US-return daughter of a politician, an MP, an MLC, and now an accused in a scam.

The Congress conundrum

For the BRS, the only way to supposedly get back into reckoning in the state is to regain its foothold in the Telangana hinterland. With the Congress winning 85% of the total 65 seats from the rural areas, the BRS’ whole focus has been to revive local units. With this in mind, the BRS named Congress as its principal opponent and made it the target of its ire in all its rallies. Having been unseated from power and appropriating its leaders, cadre, and voter base in the Telangana heartland, KCR and party leaders have been attacking the Congress on its failure to implement the six guarantees that it promised to the people in its manifesto.

The Congress on its part is aggressively combating the BRS’ taunts on the guarantees by highlighting the failure of the BRS government in allotting two-bedroom houses to the poor and implementing the Dalit Bandhu scheme. The Telangana Dalit Bandhu scheme was launched by KCR in 2021 to provide direct assistance of ₹10 lakh to every Dalit family to upskill themselves or invest in an income-generating asset.

However, a close watch on the party leaders’ campaigns will tell you that there is more than meets the eye. Chief minister Revanth Reddy and KCR have a personal score to settle. When KCR was the CM, Reddy was sent to jail for the “cash-for-votes” scam and was let out on parole just a few hours before his daughter's wedding. Politically, the Congress government has also vowed to put KCR and his family on trial for the Kaleshwaram irrigation project where an investigation is underway on the faulty construction of many piers in the project.

“The BRS does not see the BJP as its real rival since it is going to take the saffron party at least another decade to find its way into the state and a considerable number of seats in the state assembly. At the moment, the BRS is looking at reviving its fortunes, repairing its perception, and reaching out to its cadre who feel distanced. Knowing that the Telangana sentiment has lived past its date, attacking the Congress is the BRS’ only resort at least for this election,” said PL Viswa, former dean of Journalism at Hyderabad’s Osmania University.

Although KCR’s family is fighting Kavitha’s arrest in the Supreme Court, Viswa said her being in Delhi is perhaps the boon BRS never asked for. “There is no mileage to be drawn from this arrest. Instead, there’s more ground to be covered in Telangana and ensure as little is conceded to the Congress this time around,” he added.

Deepika Amirapu is a freelance journalist based in Hyderabad. Each week, Southern Lights examines the big story from one of the five states of South India.