Internal bickering in BRS deepens, MLC Kavitha says attempts made to merge party with BJP

Hyderabad: BRS MLC K Kavitha on Thursday attacked her detractors in the party, alleging that some forces have tried and are trying to merge former Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao-led party with the BJP. In a veiled attack on her brother and BRS Working President K T Rama Rao, she alleged that the merger (proposal was brought to her when she was in prison in the national capital in a money laundering case -- Delhi Liquor Police scam case -- last year), which she rejected outright. There was no immediate reaction from the party. In an informal chat with the mediapersons, she questioned the party leaders (not KCR) for not coming to her rescue when her name was being maligned on social media and some sections of vernacular papers. "Instead of controlling the BJP, which is trying to loot Telangana resources, my opinion is that attempts are being made to handover BRS to the BJP. Because when I was in prison, the same proposal was brought to me. I firmly said no. BRS is Sriram Raksha for the Telangana party," she said.

The internal differences within BRS came to the fore recently with Kavitha taking exception to the letter she wrote to her father and party president Chandrasekhar Rao getting leaked. She also had said some conspiracies are taking place in the party. KCR is like a god who is surrounded by some devils. BRS is the party which has the spirit of Telangana and the root cause of the existence of the state. It should not be merged with a national party and the same was conveyed to her father KCR, she further said. The daughter of KCR also asked why there were no agitations announced when the former CM got notices from the judicial commission on the Kaleshwaram project in Telangana, led by former Supreme Court judge Justice P C Ghose, to appear before it. "What are you celebrating in the United States? I don’t understand why we are not celebrating anything at the grassroots level?," she asked her brother, Rama Rao, without taking his name. Rama Rao is currently touring the USA and UK. Rama Rao last week, responding to a question about the letter written by his sister to the BRS president and her comments that KCR is surrounded by some "devils", he said that internal party matters should be discussed within the party instead of speaking out in public. Kavitha said she offered to resign from the MLC post when she was arrested in the money laundering case. However KCR said it was not required. She also accused some party leaders’ role in getting her defeated in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Nizamabad segment.