- BRS MLC K Kavitha accused party insiders of supporting derogatory comments by MLC Chintapandu Naveen
- Kavitha has complained to the Legislative Council chairperson and state police about Naveen's remarks
- She announced a 72-hour hunger strike demanding 42% reservation for Backward Classes in local bodies and jobs
BRS MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha made a shocking claim today that powerful members of her own party were responsible for inappropriate personal comments made against her recently by MLC Chintapandu Naveen, popularly known as Teenmaar Mallana.
Expressing her disappointment about her partymen's silence on the matter, she said it only "exposes their stand towards me".
"I have authentic information that those comments were made with the support of some insiders in the party. And the way BRS 'brothers' remained silent even after Telangana society reacted strongly, gave further credence to my information," Ms Kavitha said.
"I am aware of how low they have stooped to encourage such comments against me. Your efforts to sideline me and make me lonely will be paid back as I believe in Karma," she said.
At a press conference that underscored the deepening rifts within the BRS, Ms Kavitha launched a direct attack on senior party leaders, singling out a specific individual with a stinging new label: "lilliput leader from Nalgonda".
Political observers have widely identified the target of her criticism as former minister and Suryapet MLA Guntakandla Jagadish Reddy.
"Will the Lilliput leader who caused the party's defeat in Nalgonda district dare to speak about me?" Ms Kavitha had challenged. "If not for KCR, who is that Lilliput? Who leaked the letter that I wrote to KCR?" she had questioned.
The reference to Nalgonda is significant, as the BRS suffered a major setback in the district during the recent assembly elections -- a defeat for which Ms Kavitha is now holding the unnamed leader accountable.
Ms Kavitha has complained to the Legislative Council chairperson and the state police chief about the alleged derogatory comments made against her by MLC Chintapandu Naveen.
Her comments are widely interpreted as being aimed at senior BRS leaders -- including her brother and the party's working president KT Rama Rao.
She had called a press conference to announce that she would sit on a 72-hour hunger-strike to demand the implementation of 42 per cent reservation for Backward Classes in local bodies, education, and employment.
The hunger strike, which she said will be a "Gandhian path of peaceful resistance," is planned to take place at Dharna Chowk, Indira Park.
The announcement was made in connection with the pending approval of two separate bills for BC reservations that were passed by the state assembly and council. Ms Kavitha said while the Telangana government had promised to take an all-party delegation to Delhi to pressurise the Central government for approval, no such action has been taken. She accused the Congress government of "resorting to rhetoric without taking any concrete steps".
This comes at a time when the state government is facing a high court directive to conduct local body elections by September 30.
Ms Kavitha stressed that increasing the Backward Classes reservation quota is as crucial as holding the elections on schedule. She questioned why the government had not pursued legal action if the President has not approved the bills for over three months, citing Tamil Nadu's example of a legal fight for a higher reservation quota.
MLA Jagadeesh Reddy has reacted strongly to Ms Kavitha's comments.
Speaking to the media in Suryapet, he said he had sympathies for Kavitha's "knowledge" of his role in the Telangana movement. Ms Kavitha's statements, he said, appeared to be in line with what the KCR and BRS party's opponents, including Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, have been saying.
Jagadeesh Reddy, a close aide of BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, has defended his position, declaring that his existence as a BRS leader is a result of KCR's leadership.
On Ms Kavitha's comments blaming him for the party's performance in Nalgonda, he also said he would take responsibility for both the party's victory and defeat in elections. On her mocking statement that he had scraped through in the election unexpectedly, by a whisker, he said, "At least i won, unlike some others".
He claimed in his recent meetings with KCR, they only discussed matters related to farmers and the Godavari water project, and that Ms Kavitha's issue never came up.
