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K Kavitha launches own political party, names it Telangana Rashtra Sena
Kavitha was suspended from the BRS in September last year after she accused her cousins and party leaders of "tarnishing" her father's image.
Telangana Jagruthi president and former parliamentarian Kalvakuntla Kavitha on Saturday launched a new political party, “Telangana Rashtra Sena” (TRS) and also announced a five-point political agenda.
Addressing a huge congregation at a private convention centre at Medchal on the outskirts of Hyderabad, Kavitha said the formation of Telangana Rashtra Sena was aimed at heralding “Samajika Telangana” (Telangana with social justice), seeking to ensure justice to all sections of the society – Scheduled Castes (SCs) , Scheduled Tribes (STs), Backward Classes (BCs), minorities, women and youth.
“A political party must have a soul and an agenda. And political power is essential to implement this agenda and fulfil the people’s aspirations. The new party TRS is a vehicle for that purpose,” she said.
People familiar with the development said Kavitha’s move to name her party as TRS is a political masterstroke, obviously to pre-empt her parent party Bharat Rashtra Samithi, led by her father and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, from reclaiming its original identity Telangana Rashtra Samithi.
On October 5, 2022, KCR changed his party’s identity from TRS to BRS, as part of his agenda to make it a national political party.
“Yes. We made a strategic mistake by naming TRS as BRS. We shall consider reverting to its original name TRS. The final decision will be taken by KCR soon,” BRS working president and Kavitha’s brother K T Rama Rao told reporters last week.
Now, by formally naming her party as “TRS,” Kavitha effectively occupied the legacy space of the original TRS and grabbed the “Telangana” identity that was once associated with the BRS, political analyst Srinivasa Rao Manchala said.
Kavitha also disclosed the visual identity of the new party flag, which features yellow, blue, and green colours, as against the pink colour associated with her parent party BRS. At the centre of the flag lies a blue map of Telangana, with the acronym “TRS” inscribed in English within the map.
Addressing the rally, Kavitha highlighted her two-decade-long association with the Telangana cause through Telangana Jagruthi, by mobilising women through Bathukamma cultural programs, which she said became a vehicle of political awakening, reclaiming Telangana’s cultural identity through folk traditions and songs and establishing a strong grassroots base for the movement through women-led participation.
She asserted that Telangana was achieved through collective struggle but admitted that the aspirations behind the movement remain unfulfilled.
She also lashed out at Bharatiya Janata Party for neglecting Telangana state despite having eight MPs in Lok Sabha and undermining federal principles. At the same time, she took a dig at the present Congress government led by chief minister A Revanth Reddy, describing it as a draconian rule.
Kavitha outlined a five-point agenda for her new political outfit: providing free education to students from primary school to universities; universal free healthcare facilities to all sections; making farmers kings by ensuring them dignity and institutional respect; making unemployed youth self-reliant by extending financial assistance ranging from ₹2 lakh to ₹20 crore for entrepreneurship, besides filling up four lakh jobs at one go; and lastly, ensuring social justice to all sections of people.
Kavitha declared that he party will be contesting the upcoming mandal parishad and zilla parishad elections, besides elections to Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.
