'Deliberate conspiracy to attack our identity': K Kavitha warns Andhra leaders against 'meddling' in Telangana

Hyderabad: Telangana Rakshana Sena (TRS) chief and former MP K Kavitha issued a sharp warning to Andhra Pradesh leaders on Monday, threatening to smash their statues in Telangana and parcel them back to the neighbouring state the moment her party returns to power.

Kavitha's combative remarks came during a meeting with the families of Telangana martyrs, held against the backdrop of rising inter-state political friction. Tensions had been simmering after reports emerged that Jana Sena chief and Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan was planning to address a party meeting in Hyderabad on Tuesday, Telangana Formation Day, under the banner of "rebuilding Telangana."

Kavitha also took direct aim at Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy's recent unveiling of an NTR statue at Ameerpet in Hyderabad, calling it part of a deliberate conspiracy to erode Telangana's cultural and political identity.

“Now, statues of Andhra figures are being installed everywhere in Telangana, and they are speaking without any restraint. The reason is that an agent of Andhra political leaders is sitting as Chief Minister of this state. This is not happening by chance. There is a deliberate conspiracy to attack our identity. You may wonder why I am speaking about Andhra at a meeting organised for Telangana movement activists. But the most vital thing we fought for when we won Telangana was our identity. Today, that identity is under attack, and it is absolutely essential that we all understand this conspiracy. That is why I am raising this issue,” she said.

Opening her address with tributes to Telangana's martyrs, Kavitha reflected on decades of sacrifice that culminated in statehood. "For 60 to 70 years, we lost our children to this struggle. Their sacrifices became the fuel that won us Telangana. Yet justice has still not reached their families," she said, urging the Congress government to fulfil its promises to movement activists on Formation Day itself, rather than stalling behind committees.

Kavitha drew a sharp contrast between Telangana's disciplined movement and the current behaviour of Andhra political leadership. "We conducted our agitation with dignity, the Vanta Varpu, the Sakala Janula Samme, without targeting ordinary Andhra people. We earned a reputation across the country as a model of how a movement should be conducted," she said and argued that while common people on both sides maintained trade ties and family bonds, it was Andhra's political class that was now overstepping its limits.

Turning her fire on Pawan Kalyan and Minister Nara Lokesh, she mocked Andhra's inability to build its own capital even 13 years after the state's formation. "Every monsoon, your capital floods and water enters your Secretariat. Fix that first before coming to Telangana to talk of Nava Nirmana," she said pointedly. She further noted that Andhra leaders routinely travel to Hyderabad for medical treatment while their own people from Nellore, Anantapur, and Vijayawada are forced to travel to Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad for healthcare, a failure she attributed to years of neglect.

"Andhra parties shut their shops here because Telangana's people refused to vote for them. Have they forgotten that? Telangana is not Lokesh Babu's empire to expand into, " she said and also condemned Chief Minister Revanth Reddy's reported approval of the Godavari–Kaveri river link project as a betrayal of Telangana's water rights.

"We were one way before the TRS flag came, and we are different now. TRS 2.0 is here. We won Telangana by taking on the establishment once. Come after us again, and the consequences will be severe," she warned.