The only reaction that came many hours after the episode was a late evening tweet by the BRS leader in the Legislative Council Madhusudhana Chary, condemning the remarks against Kavitha.
Published Jul 14, 2025 | 2:20 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 14, 2025 | 2:20 PM
Senior BRS leaders have yet to respond to Mallanna insulting Kavitha.
Synopsis: Congress MLC Teenmar Mallanna’s derogatory comments led to Kavitha’s supporters storming his office in protest. Incidentally, no BRS leader, barring Madhusudhana Chary, came out in the open in support Kavitha. Her brother and BRS working president KT Rama Rao, and cousin and former minister T Harish Rao, preferred to keep mum.
The muted response of the top leadership of the Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to the vulgar attack on the party MLC Kavitha Kalvakuntla has raised eyebrows in political circles.
MLC Teenmar Mallanna, suspended from the Congress for anti-party activities since March this year, on Sunday, 13 July, made utterly crass remarks against Kavitha while questioning why she was celebrating the state government’s ordinance giving 42 per cent reservations for backward classes (BCs).
In response, activists of Telangana Jagruthi, founded by Kavitha, vandalised Mallanna’s office. Kavitha later lodged a complaint with the Chairman of the Legislative Council and the Director General of Police seeking action against Mallanna. The latter, in turn, sought action from the police against those who attacked his office.
This being so, what has not gone unnoticed is the silence from the top guns of BRS to the cheap remarks against their leader, that too a woman, also the daughter of the former chief minister, K Chandrashekar Rao.
The only reaction that came many hours after the episode was a late evening tweet by the party leader in the Legislative Council Madhusudhana Chary, condemning the remarks against Kavitha. The social media handle of BRS put out the same.
Kavitha, according to those close to her, is said to be peeved over neither party Working President KT Rama Rao nor a senior leader and former minister T Harish Rao for not coming out with a statement in support of her.
Her associates pointed to the fact that Kavitha had responded on both the occasions when the State police issued notices to KTR and Harish Rao in two different investigations, and stood by them.
They also highlighted that even Chary came out with the tweet only after the state Congress president, Mahesh Kumar Goud, condemned Mallanna’s remarks.
Rajya Sabha member R Krishnaiah, a prominent BC leader, and BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, too, condemned Mallanna.
“Even assuming that there are differences between them (KTR, Harish, and Kavitha), the least the party should have done is to come out strongly in her defense, considering the remarks against her are unacceptable in public life,” a political watcher observed.
From their side, a spokesman of the party claimed that the reason for the party not aggressively backing her was some of her actions in the recent months. “On quite a few issues, particularly regarding BC reservations, she has chosen to take a path different from that of the party. The trend has been clear for a few months. Therefore, the party is preferring to adopt a wait and watch mode until clarity emerges on her political plans,” the spokesman said.
He also pointed out that Kavitha had openly declared that she would not accept the leadership of KTR and, therefore, to expect him to be soft towards her is not correct.
“What is happening is not good for the party. There will be no winners in this battle. We can only hope that the “big man” (read KCR) will step in at some point and sort out issues, if any, so that the party projects a united face, which is important in the fight against the ruling Congress.”
The BRS party, however, cannot justify its near-silence citing Kavitha’s dissent. Even if Kavitha’s move to stand up for herself is unacceptable to the leadership, the crass and vulgar comment against any woman by a Congress MLC should have elicited a stronger response from the primary opposition party. Irrespective of Kavitha’s dissent, her position as MLC of BRS and her presence as a strong woman political leader in Telangana should have been enough for BRS to strongly protest comments against her.
Barely a few days ago, supporters of BRS and its working President KT Rama Rao vandalised the office of a news platform in Telangana following a controversial programming. While violence isn’t justified, the content of the alleged thumbnail used by the media platform was enough to rile the BRS cadres and leaders.
While KTR himself announced he would initiate legal action, BRS IT cell workers and other leaders launched a campaign attacking the media platform, KTR’s supporters broke the law and vandalised private property. In contrast, the party’s top leadership has chosen to remain mum over the crass comments against Kavitha.
