In a sharp escalation of internal strife within the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), former MLA Gongidi Sunitha launched a scathing attack on party colleague and Telangana Jagruthi president K Kavitha. Sunitha criticised Kavitha for her recent remarks in the legislative council and alleged she is acting under the influence of external forces.
Allegations and a Divine Dare
Addressing a press conference at Telangana Bhavan on Monday, Sunitha did not mince her words. She accused Kavitha of "dancing to the tunes of some forces, which are known to everyone in the state." Taking the confrontation a step further, Sunitha dared Kavitha to take an oath on Lord Laxmi Narasimha Swamy that she had no involvement in the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam. She squarely blamed Kavitha for damaging the reputation of Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in connection with the case.
Questioning Loyalty and Party Democracy
Sunitha posed a series of pointed questions to the Jagruthi leader. She questioned why Kavitha, who had resigned from her MLC seat four months prior, waited so long for the resignation to be accepted. "Did you not resign gracefully? If you are technically a BRS member of the council, why did you do this in the council?" Sunitha asked. She asserted that Kavitha's speech seemed solely aimed at criticising the BRS and its founder, K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR).
Highlighting inconsistencies, the BRS leader pointed out that while Kavitha opposed renaming the TRS to BRS, she went ahead and changed her organisation's name from Telangana Jagruthi to Bharat Jagruthi. Sunitha also questioned the lack of internal party democracy, asking how Kavitha managed to secure posts for her supporters if the system was flawed. "She recommended several leaders of her group for party and other posts to party working president KTR. If there is no democracy in the party, how did she manage to get posts for her supporters?"
Recalling Past Favours and Support
In a reminder of the party's past support, Sunitha stated that KCR gave Kavitha the MLC post after she lost the Nizamabad seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. This was done even while denying the position to a senior leader like ex-MP B Vinod Kumar. She also recalled that when Kavitha was jailed in the liquor scam, BRS leaders KTR and Harish Rao camped in Delhi to secure bail for her.
Privilege Motion Against Chief Minister
In a separate but significant political development, BRS MLAs have moved against Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy. MLAs including KP Vivekananda and Kova Laxmi met Assembly Speaker G Prasad Kumar on Monday. They submitted a representation seeking a privilege motion against CM Revanth Reddy for allegedly misleading the house on the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme (RLIS).
The MLAs claimed the Chief Minister's statement that he stopped the project being undertaken by the Andhra Pradesh government was "factually incorrect and misleading." They stated that the AP government had officially contradicted the Telangana CM's claim. The legislators also accused Reddy of misquoting the proceedings of the Apex Council meetings and altering the minutes' orders. By reading out the altered order, he distorted facts in the assembly, they alleged.
On the Krishna water issue, the MLAs argued that the CM presented a temporary and interim arrangement as a formal and binding agreement. "This is material misrepresentation, as a temporary arrangement does not carry the legal sanctity or enforceability of an agreement," the BRS MLAs stated in their plea to the Speaker.
The twin developments underscore the intense and multi-front political battles unfolding in Telangana, involving both internal party discord and sharp legislative confrontations.
