{"id":356231,"date":"2025-09-03T21:24:36","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T15:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=356231"},"modified":"2025-09-04T13:17:51","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T07:47:51","slug":"brs-family-feud-not-the-first-telugu-political-family-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/brs-family-feud-not-the-first-telugu-political-family-drama\/","title":{"rendered":"BRS family feud\u2014not the first Telugu political family drama"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kavitha\u2019s suspension, what next; Telugu politics has a long history of family feuds spilling into party affair; the BRS saga adds yet another chapter to Telugu politics where family, ambition, and betrayal often determine the fate of parties as much as ideology<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), once seen as a tightly knit family enterprise under former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), is now unraveling in public. On Tuesday, K Kavitha\u2014KCR\u2019s daughter and a former MP\u2014was suspended from the party founded by her father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disciplinary action followed her explosive allegations that her cousin, senior BRS leader and former minister T Harish Rao, orchestrated the federal investigation into KCR\u2019s finances and dealings. Kavitha did not stop there\u2014she also accused her own brother, K T Rama Rao (KTR), widely regarded as KCR\u2019s political heir, conspired against her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf this is the cost of speaking the truth, then I am ready to pay it a hundred times again for the people of Telangana,\u201d Kavitha declared on \u2018X\u2019 on Wednesday, hours after her suspension. She also warned her father and brother of people around them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Party leaders T Ravinder Rao and Soma Bharat Kumar justified the move, saying her recent comments amounted to \u201canti-party activity.\u201d But behind the official line lies a deeper churn\u2014the BRS is in the throes of an internal power struggle with KCR\u2019s children and nephew jockeying for control over the party\u2019s future, its assets, and its influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The KCR dynasty at crossroads<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During KCR\u2019s decade-long tenure as Chief Minister, the family operated as a political powerhouse. KTR and Harish Rao held key ministerial portfolios, while Kavitha served in Parliament and simultaneously led Telangana Jagruthi\u2014 <\/em>her socio-cultural platform. The arrangement appeared balanced\u2014until now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suspension signals that the once-cohesive dynasty is showing the familiar cracks that have plagued other Telugu political families. Analysts note that such rifts often begin with questions of succession and control, only to escalate into open warfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not the first Telugu family drama<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Telugu politics has a long history of family feuds spilling into party affair; the BRS saga adds yet another chapter to the enduring story of Telugu politics\u2014where family, ambition, and betrayal often determine the fate of parties as much as ideology<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The YSR family, for instance, saw YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and his sister YS Sharmila parting ways. Sharmila, who once campaigned for Jagan during his imprisonment, now heads the Andhra Pradesh Congress and has accused her brother of \u201cmurderous politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) too was torn apart in the 1990s, when current Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu staged what is still remembered as a \u201cpalace coup,\u201d ousting his father-in-law\u2014party founder NT Rama Rao. The coup was fueled partly by resentment over the growing political influence of NTR\u2019s second wife, Lakshmi Parvathi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personal rivalries, inheritances and political ambition can destabilise family-oriented parties .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What next for Kavitha?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With her suspension, Kavitha\u2019s next steps will be closely watched. She continues to head Telangana Jagruthi<\/em>, which may provide her a base independent of the BRS. Whether she uses it to build a parallel political career or to negotiate her way back into the family fold remains uncertain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For KCR, the challenge is equally steep: keeping the BRS intact as it battles not just a resurgent Congress in Telangana but also its own imploding power center. The suspension of his daughter may consolidate KTR\u2019s control, but it risks alienating Kavitha\u2019s supporters and deepening perceptions of a dynasty at war with itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kavitha\u2019s suspension, what next; Telugu politics has a long history of family feuds spilling into party affair; the BRS saga adds yet another chapter to Telugu politics where family, ambition, and betrayal often determine the fate of parties as much as ideology The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), once seen as a tightly knit family enterprise […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":356230,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2920,36,2780,2921],"tags":[17795,17460,19726],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356231"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/187"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356231"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":356250,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356231\/revisions\/356250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/356230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}