KCR DYNASTY IN TELANGANA IS IN REAL TROUBLE OVER KAVITHA’S EXIT FROM BRS

Is the Bharat Rashtra Samiti ‘family rama’ nothing but sibling rivalry and favouritism? Also shades of / patriarchy and the son getting to keep the cake while taking a bite of it, too. The daughter is angry to the point of boiling over and this is what is happening, as BRS founder K. Chandrasekhar Rao is getting to realise as he presides over this party play of several desperate acts?

So, Kavitha is out of the “family party”. Doesn’t Kavitha know it takes a lot to set up a political dynasty and politics of dynasties have been the flavour of Indian politics? KCR knew he had a nice thing going till the Congress took the winds out of the BRS sail. Insiders say KCR had a “soft corner” for Kavitha but was firm
that “son” comes first in politics.

Apparently, Kavitha accepted this homili till as long as she was a Member of Parliament and KTR stuck in home turf. Then came the 2019 general elections and Kavitha lost! Kavitha’s political applecart upended and she felt impinged and constricted. The feeling worsened when it got clear that KCR was the old patriarch and his preference for son overrode the soft corner for daughter.

Kavitha’s suspension and exit from BRS is a “complex web of palace intrigue and the ingrained patriarchal attitude that daughters can inherit property but not politics” is how one Telangana political analyst put it. But trouble within the family was brewing. And BRS is one family. Not like one family is a single family of parents and children.

The BRS family is father, son and daughter. The weakest link breaks and the family goes underwater. They are calling it sibling rivalry. Far from that. This is hardcore politics and power-play between Kavitha and her brother KT Rama Rao (KTR) with KCR placing his considerable weight behind KTR. Kavitha is stewing, angry, simmering and boiling over, forcing KCR to tip over, take unprecedented action. His soft corner for Kavitha has become a hard ledge. The family drama has taken a hard turn.

That KCR has entrusted his politics to KTR is the only certainty so far. The arrangement stands disrupted. The party started with the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. KCR founded the Telangana Rashtra Samiti. TRS came to power. KCR became Chief Minister. A political dynasty was born.

Then, in 2014, TRS became BRS and Kavitha the Nizamabad MP and the party face and voice in New Delhi. However, the arrangement took a toss when Kavitha lost Lok Sabha 2019 setting the stage for KCR to display the attitude that the son is heir and the daughter a convenient prop.

Things went really south and Kavitha’s relationship with KCR deteriorated when she was named in the Delhi excise scam. Arrested and jailed, Kavitha became an embarrassment for KCR and the family. She found herself isolated within the family.

KTR visited her in jail a few times but KCR didn’t, not even once. Kavitha had expected stronger support from BRS and her family. What left her shattered was KCR shunning his daughter like the plague. On top of this on her release from prison, KCR told her to “take it easy.”

It was like the end of days for Kavitha. All her determination to make a comeback with a bang… Kavitha was planning tours and protests. Early this year, she held a huge rally in Hyderabad asking for 42% reservation for OBCs in education and employment.

Kavitha also raised issues like discrepancies in the caste survey and demanded the installation of OBC leader Jyotibha Phule statue in the assembly.

But nothing changed KCR’s attitude. On the contrary, the feeling mounted that Kavitha was out to strike an
independent role for herself. This wasn’t family anymore. KCR wouldn’t take it. It went against his grain. Then, as expected Kavitha lost status.

The party’s silver jubilee celebrations didn’t take notice of her. There were prominent KCR and KTR posters but none with Kavitha. Finally, the last nail was Kavitha’s six-page letter to KCR alleging that he was “soft on BJP” and .charging him with being “inaccessible to party leaders.”

Simultaneously, Kavitha went ballistic against senior party leaders, not sparing brother KTR, followed by her viral attack on KCR’s nephews. Kavitha wanted war and was intent on forcing change. A daughter scorned! She was attacking her father’s “confidantes and gatekeepers” and she did this openly and blatantly.

KTR is the target. But this is not sibling rivalry. Sibling rivalry is adorable. Some parents even encourage sibling rivalry. It gives them delight. This is family politics. This is for control of a political dynasty. This is about taking over a political party. It is happening in the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) in Tamil Nadu where father and son are at war. BRS will survive but is the KCR/BSR dynasty in an existential danger?