For the past week, Telangana politics has been treated to a theatre performance that was equal parts family drama, power play, and a WhatsApp group admin supremacy.
Published Sep 04, 2025 | 2:33 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 04, 2025 | 2:33 PM
Kavitha at the centre of the latest of BRS's internal drama
Synopsis: Two days before K Kavitha tendered her resignation as a member of the BRS and of the Telangana Legislative Council, and a day before KCR suspended her, a ‘mini’ version of the family drama was played out in a WhatsApp group.
When the first drop of rain falls on a pond, the first ripple appears at a shallow corner before the full wave reaches the wider waters. However, the case in focus here is the suspension and resignation of Kalvakuntla Kavitha as a member of the BRS in Telangana.
On Monday, 1 September, two days before she tendered her resignation as a member of the BRS and of the Telangana Legislative Council, and a day before her father and party supremo K Chandrashekar Rao suspended her, a ‘mini’ version of the family drama was played out in a WhatsApp group.
For the past week, Telangana politics has been treated to a theatre performance that was equal parts family drama, power play, and a WhatsApp group admin supremacy.
On Monday, Kavitha was clearly in no mood for restraint and aimed none other than her cousin and party strongman T Harish Rao, blaming him for the corruption surrounding the now-infamous Kaleshwaram fiasco.
And in a twist worthy of a soap opera, she portrayed Chandrashekar Rao — popularly known as KCR — not as the architect of the project, but as a poor victim of circumstance, ensnared by the misdeeds of his own nephew.
If that wasn’t enough, within hours of Kavitha’s fireworks, her Public Relations Officer (PRO) was unceremoniously booted from the official BRS Media Updates WhatsApp group, his messages wiped clean as though he had never existed.
Although at first glance it appears to be a mistake, Kavitha is KCR’s daughter after all, a technical equal to KTR himself; the removal was only as quick as the ruling dispensation’s attempts at renaming everything.
However, nobody knew then that it was a teaser for an imminent “family drama”, or rather “keeping the party’s interest over the family’s”.
The very next day, on Tuesday, KCR suspended Kavitha from the party over accusations against her cousins, former irrigation minister Harish Rao and former MP J Santosh Kumar, of amassing huge assets.
On Wednesday, the curtain fell for the drama — even though it’s unclear if it’s the interval or the ending. Kavitha resigned from the party and as MLC, accusing Harish Rao and Santhosh Kumar of attempting to break the Chandrashekar Rao family.
She alleged that both leaders had schemed against her for years and finally succeeded in creating rifts within the family. “This was part of Harish Rao’s grand plan, which is now being supervised by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy. Harish Rao’s objective is to break our family and destroy the party,” she claimed.
Appealing directly to her brother and former minister KT Rama Rao (KTR), who is the working president of the party, she said, “Ramanna, be wary of these forces. They are out to capture the party after throwing all of us out. They will not stop until the family is completely broken.
However, irony deepens in another instance. On 31 August, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy handed over the Kaleshwaram probe to the CBI, an institution that both he and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi have long decried as a tool of vendetta politics. Apparently, consistency is the first casualty in Telangana’s politics.
Meanwhile, Kavitha has been living her political second life in Telangana Jagruthi, the cultural outfit she heads. Once the sidekick of BRS, Jagruthi now looks determined to shed its pink hues in favour of a clean white-and-green identity.
The shawls have changed, the references to BRS have vanished, but the devotion to KCR remains conveniently untouched — like a family photo no one dares to remove from the wall, no matter the drama behind the smiling faces.
Kavitha’s resignation and potshots at Harish Rao and Santhosh Kumar could be the final nail in the coffin of BRS–Jagruthi ties. If not, the hammer is certainly poised, waiting for the next family feud to land the blow.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
