Hyderabad: The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has suspended its MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha for what it called anti-party activities and damaging, defiant behaviour.
Kavitha, a former MP from Nizamabad, is the only daughter of BRS founder and former Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao, and the younger sister of the party’s working president and heir apparent KT Rama Rao.
The decision comes a day after Kavitha named and blamed the BRS’s no. 3—former irrigation and finance minister T. Harish Rao—and former Rajya Sabha MP Santhosh Joginapally for the Kaleshwaram project “corruption muck” on KCR.
Her latest allegations have given the ruling Congress ammo, as well as put her brother KTR, who has been going hard at refuting the Congress’s allegations over Kaleshwaram—in a delicate position. The BRS had projected the mega lift irrigation project it executed on the Godavari as a showpiece of its administration.
Kavitha is yet to publicly respond to her suspension from the BRS.
The no-holds barred family feud is now out in the open in Telangana. Both Harish and Santhosh are nephews of KCR’s and cousins to Kavitha. BRS sources said Kavitha’s suspension was approved by KCR himself, after an urgent meeting with KTR and a few senior leaders including G. Jagadish Reddy at the former CM’s farmhouse at Erravelli Monday night.
Kavitha was reacting to the Revanth Reddy government’s decision to hand over the probe into alleged corruption in the Rs 1 lakh crore Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project (KLIP) during KCR’s tenure, to the CBI.
The Congress government’s decision follows the findings of the PC Ghose Commission of Inquiry that held ex-CM KCR “directly and also vicariously accountable for the irregularities and the illegalities in planning, construction, completion, operation and maintenance of the three barrages” under the mega project.
In May, Kavitha, upon her return home from a visit to the US, had accused “some demons” surrounding her father of tarnishing his and the party’s image.
Her comments then had caused a storm within the party, out of power after two terms. It also brought to the fore a raging rift within the family.
On Monday however, Kavitha held a press conference where she named BRS leaders she claimed were responsible for the corruption taint on KCR.
At the press conference, she alleged that Harish Rao and Santhosh colluded with Krishna Reddy, MD of Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Limited—which built some components of the Kaleshwaram project—to amass wealth while dragging KCR’s name into it.
The MLC further claimed that Harish Rao was removed as irrigation minister in the second term by KCR for the same reason.
Telangana Congress chief Mahesh Kumar Goud has demanded that BRS, KCR and KTR respond to Kavitha’s charges.
He called the latest controversy a “private affair” of the BRS first family.
“Neither the Congress nor the CM need to target or shield anyone. All corrupt are the same for us. KCR’s family is neck deep in corruption and the quarrel now is apparently also over sharing of ill-gotten monies. We have nothing to do with their internal fights,” Goud told reporters.
Also Read: Why discontent is brewing among BRS defectors in Telangana Congress
‘KCR treats everyone equally’
BRS leaders and legislators, who have been keeping away from Kavitha and her activities for the past several months, defended her suspension as “KCR’s equal treatment of anyone crossing the party line, be it his own daughter”. At the same time, MLA Palla Rajeshwar Reddy accused the Congress of causing the rift in the KCR family.
Kavitha has been alleging a conspiracy against her, even citing her removal from the post of honorary president of the Telangana Boggu Ghani Karmika Sangham (TBGKS) at the Singareni Collieries in north Telangana. The party replaced her with former minister Koppula Eshwar when she was in the US last month.
The strained relations between the brother and sister were evident when KTR, as alleged by the Kavitha camp, avoided meeting his sister on Rakhi by travelling to Bengaluru.
What happened at the press conference
At the Monday press conference, Kavitha said “Harish Rao, Santhosh Rao, were the cause of the corruption allegations faced by KCR today, but CM Reddy is shielding both of them as the Congress’s real target is KCR”.
“Harish and Santhosh amassed wealth while my father, who dedicatedly functioned for Telangana’s welfare and well-being, is now in a situation of facing CBI inquiry,” Kavitha said, adding that she “is deeply distressed, as KCR is not just my father, he is my God”.
Soon after Kavitha’s remarks on Monday gained traction on TV channels and social media, BRS leaders went into damage control, rallying behind Harish and hailing his assembly speech over the Kaleshwaram report.
KTR himself reposted on X a BRS post hailing Harish as a lion devouring the Congress’s “lies” on Kaleshwaram. KTR called his cousin Harish’s speech “a master class” and him “an able disciple of KCR garu.”
This indeed was a master class from our dynamic leader @BRSHarish Garu 👏
I am sure the congress MLAs and Ministers grudgingly learned a lot about Irrigation from this able disciple of KCR Garu https://t.co/w5YGJCETtL
— KTR (@KTRBRS) September 1, 2025
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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