Tussle between KTR, sister Kavitha over BRS leadership
A cold of war of sorts is said to be brewing within the family of BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao
A cold of war of sorts is said to be brewing within the family of Bharat Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao, with his daughter and legislative council member Kalvakuntla Kavitha suspecting a conspiracy by her own brother KT Rama Rao to sideline her in the party, people familiar with the developments in the party said.

A party functionary close to the family said on condition of anonymity that KTR, who is presently the working president of the BRS, has begun taking control of the party, as KCR has virtually stopped actively involving in the day-to-day activities of the party.
“There is a talk within the party that KTR might take over the BRS state president sooner than later, while KCR would be redesignated as BRS national party president, playing a bigger role at the national level in the coming years,” he said.
KCR’s nephew and former minister T Harish Rao on Tuesday declared that he was ready to work under the leadership of KTR, if KCR makes him the party president. “I have been a loyalist of KCR for the last two decades and I shall accept whatever decision he takes,” Rao said.
Another senior BRS leader and former minister V Srinivas Goud said KTR is the natural political heir of KCR. “Every leader and worker in the party knows that. KTR is undoubtedly an able leader who has the acceptability among the party cadre,” Goud said, in a debate in a local television channel on Wednesday.
However, KCR’s daughter Kavitha has begun asserting herself. For the last few weeks, she has been extensively touring different parts of the state, taking up the cause of OBCs and women.
“This has obviously caused irritation to KTR, who doesn’t want his sister to emerge as alternative power centre within the party,” the party functionary quoted above said.
According to him, KTR is of the view that Kavitha was being responsible for the party drawing a blank in the May 2024 Lok Sabha elections because of her imprisonment in the Delhi liquor policy scam probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate,” the party leader said.
The 46-years-old leader, who is heading Telangana Jagruthi, a cultural wing of the BRS, was arrested by the CBI in the Delhi liquor policy case on March 15, 2024 and was released on bail on August 27.
After lying low for a few months post her release from the jail, Kavitha returned to active politics in the party and started touring the districts. In a bid to regain her ground, she has taken up the cause of OBCs and injustice done to them politically and socially.
On behalf of Telangana Jagruthi, Kavitha held a big rally at Indira Park in Hyderabad on January 3 demanding 42% reservations for OBCs in education and employment. She raised the issue of discrepancies in the caste survey conducted by the Congress government in Telangana and demanded the installation of OBC leader Jyotibha Phule statue on the assembly premises.
“Obviously, Kavitha’s new found love for OBCs, which she never had when the BRS was in power, has come as a big irritation for KTR, who apparently has not been able to tolerate the traction she has been getting among the OBCs,” political analyst Mohammad Zakeer said.
At the BRS rally at Elkaturthi in Warangal as part of the party’s silver jubilee celebrations on April 27, Kavitha was not given any prominence. “While there were cut-outs and pictures of KCR and KTR on the dais and elsewhere in the rally, there was not a single picture of Kavitha,” the party leader quoted above said.
What came as a climax to the cold war in the family was Kavitha’s statement at the May Day celebrations held at her residence on May 1. She said though a “geographical Telangana” state was achieved, the “Samajika Telangana,” (Telangana with social justice) was not delivered to the people.
“During the BRS regime, ₹10,000 per acre assistance was provided to farmers under the Rythu Bandhu scheme. If a farmer had 10 acres, he used to get ₹1 lakh. But we failed to deliver justice to agriculture labourers who had no land,” she said.
Stating that there is a need to eliminate this inequality in the society, Kavitha vowed to fight for “achieving Samajika Telangana.”
This came as a big embarrassment to KTR, who is gearing up to lead the party. “He cannot deny her statement, as it will lead to antagonising the OBCs. If he issues any statement in her support, it amounts to accepting her leadership,” Zakeer said.
In the next week, there were a series of reports on social media and also some vernacular digital media sites, stating that Kavitha is staging a revolt in the party, as she was denied an important position.
One of the websites alleged that Kavitha had entered into real estate business and is seeking favours from Revanth Reddy government, while another digital media site described as another YS Sharmila (Andhra Congress president who revolted against her own brother YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, former chief minister, who did not entertain her political ambitions).
Speaking to reporters on May 10, Kavitha said she was very much aware of who was behind such a negative campaign against her. “Isn’t it enough that I was made to suffer in jail for six months? Do you want to make me suffer more?” she asked the peddlers of misinformation. She stated that she was aware of those spreading rumours against her with malicious intentions and vowed to expose them at appropriate time.
Kavitha strongly defended her latest campaign for “Samajika Telangana.” “I have only been reflecting the voices of people I met during her tour of 47 constituencies and the prevailing conditions in the state,” she said.
She demanded that the BRS should respond to the misinformation campaign against her and warned to respond with greater force and intensity if provoked any further.
Another BRS leader close to Kavitha said there have been instructions from KTR to the party district units not to attend any of the meetings held by Kavitha during her district tours.
“For example, when she visited Kamareddy last month, none of the BRS leaders including district party president and former MLA of Kamareddy turned up. During her visit to Mulug on Monday, too, she was ignored by the local BRS leaders which was never the case in the past,” the party leader said.
KTR could not be reached for the comment on the latest developments in the party.