Kavitha taps TRS brand for party, but can she ride Telangana politics without dad KCR?

Tamil Nadu had Amma (the late J. Jayalalithaa); West Bengal has Didi (chief minister Mamata Banerjee). In Telangana, Kalvakuntla Kavitha aspires to be one such towering woman politician. She has just floated her party, promising to administer the state with compassion and maturity.

The daughter of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) supremo K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), who has by all measures entirely snapped ties with her family, did mention her father at the party launch in Hyderabad on April 25—but in predictably unkind ways. Kavitha called KCR ‘mara manishi’ (robot), remarking that the two-term former chief minister of Telangana had lately been making politically immature comments. She called him powerless and “trapped by jackals and wolves”.

Till last year, Kavitha was among the four most-prominent faces in the BRS, the others being KCR, her brother and party working president K.T. Rama Rao (KTR), and cousin and former minister Harish Rao. Now she says she is “ashamed about being part of the family that ruled Telangana arbitrarily” and accused it of misusing state machinery against political opponents.

Kavitha, who was Nizamabad Lok Sabha MP in 2014-19 and an MLC till this January, claimed she was shown the door by the BRS for raising corruption issues in the Rs 1 lakh crore Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project executed during KCR’s rule.

“I seek forgiveness from the people, yet an apology is not enough. I shall strive hard in public service to atone for the mistakes and sins of certain BRS leaders,” Kavitha said while unveiling her Telangana Rashtra Sena. “Together, we have to achieve ‘samajika’ (socio-economically inclusive) Telangana. If given a chance, I shall administer Telangana like a mother.”

Kavitha’s attempt at political resurgence on her own terms comes within two months of a Delhi court exonerating her in the Delhi excise policy case. Accused of a hand in the liquor policy scam, she was arrested in the run-up to the 2024 general elections, first by the Enforcement Directorate and then the Central Bureau of Investigation. She spent over five months in Delhi’s Tihar Jail, securing bail in August that year.

Since early 2025, she had been differing—on occasions rebelling—with the BRS line. This was attributed by opponents to her diminished role in the party and KCR family matters. Following a raging rift with KTR and cousins Harish Rao and Joginapally Santosh Kumar, the BRS suspended Kavitha last September for what was described as anti-party activity and defiant behaviour.

What has attracted interest in Kavitha’s party launch is its name—Telangana Rashtra Sena, the initials of which form TRS, matching with the previous avatar of the BRS, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi. KCR had formed this party in 2001 with the single-point agenda of Telangana statehood, a task accomplished in 2014. In his second term as chief minister, chasing national expansion, he rechristened the party as BRS.

The name BRS seems to have failed to connect with the people of Telangana, and with the added burden of two-term anti-incumbency, KCR was ousted from power in 2023. The party’s drubbing continued into 2024 as it drew a blank in the Lok Sabha polls. Some in the BRS attributed the parliamentary election rout to the liquor policy case accusations against Kavitha.

Kavitha’s Telangana Rashtra Sena has risen on the horizon even as BRS leaders, including KTR, have said their party is mulling reverting to its original name. But having crossed swords with her father, can Kavitha cast an impact on Telangana politics even if her outfit piggybacks on the TRS name?

On April 28, the 25th anniversary of the BRS, KCR made a rare appearance at the party headquarters in Hyderabad’s Banjara Hills. In his trademark marathon speech, the BRS patriarch displayed a dismissive stance, not even making an oblique reference to his daughter’s new outfit.

Only when the media sought a response did KTR remark that “the development was not even worth taking notice of.”. “Many parties have come and gone. A rare few have continued to serve people for 25 years,” said KTR, the BRS working president.

The BRS, in a social media post, snubbed Kavitha’s venture, stating that “the original is always the original”. Party leaders are comparing the Telangana Rashtra Sena with the short-lived fortunes of the YSR Telangana Party, launched by Y.S. Sharmila, the sister of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

The YSR Telangana Party was formed in 2021 as Sharmila parted ways with Jagan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh and hoped to shine in neighbouring Telangana. Although she toured Telangana and targeted KCR, KTR and others, Sharmila sat out the November 2023 assembly polls, in which the Congress stormed to power with a strong majority. Sharmila eventually merged her party with the Congress in 2024, and was made its president for Andhra Pradesh.

Political observers say that unlike Sharmila, who banked on the political legacy of her late father Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Kavitha has burnt all bridges with the KCR family, even going to the extent of declaring a war against her father. While she was very much a part of the Telangana statehood agitation, leading a socio-cultural body called Telangana Jagruthi, her electoral appeal has been limited.

Kavitha has so far won only one direct election—the Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat in 2014. But this was an election held around the time of Telangana’s creation—a time when the new state’s electorate showered gratitude and votes on KCR. After the 2019 Lok Sabha poll loss, Kavitha became an MLC in 2020, backed by the BRS.

To Telangana BJP chief N. Ramchander Rao, the Telangana Rashtra Sena is a new political drama orchestrated by the KCR family. Telangana Congress president Mahesh Goud questions the timing of the launch and doubts Kavitha’s intent. “She never spoke about corruption while enjoying the perks during BRS rule,” remarked Goud.

Nevertheless, Kavitha is exuding confidence. “I will definitely become chief minister,” she declared to the media, terming her party as “a new revolution in Telangana”.

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