Kavitha launches TRS, breaks away from father KCR's legacy

Hyderabad: Former MLC and daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, K Kavitha on Saturday announced the launch of her political party, Telangana Rashtra Sena (TRS), a name that deliberately echoes the former identity of the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).

KCR had renamed the original Telangana Rashtra Samithi to BRS several years ago.

Speaking at the launch held at a convention centre in Medchal, Kavitha said she felt ashamed to have been part of a family that ruled Telangana for nearly a decade. She sharply criticised the BRS for failing to function as an effective opposition, reserving her most pointed remarks for her father.

In what appeared to be her most direct public attack on KCR to date, Kavitha said he had lost his political maturity and become a "robot" in the hands of others.

"He is not our KCR. He is a changed man, a machine-man," she said, adding that she spoke those words with sorrow, not joy.

She also revealed that she had been suspended from the party for speaking out against corruption, while those she described as "corrupt rats" were kept close to KCR. "I was suspended for speaking the truth. KCR is now a soulless puppet, held captive among foxes and wolves," she said.

Kavitha unveiled a five-pronged "Panchajanya" strategy for the welfare of Telangana, arguing that the BRS, Congress and BJP had all failed the state's people. She framed her pursuit of political power not as an end in itself, but as the only means to deliver meaningful change, positioning herself as a nurturing leader the "Amma", or mother, of Telangana.

She described the launch of the new TRS as an attempt to correct the wrongs and realign the state with the original aspirations of the Telangana movement. "The chariot of the Telangana movement lost its way over time and failed to fully understand the hardships faced by the people. The BRS may be functioning technically, but it has lost its soul and context, the very essence of Telangana," she said, adding that this vacuum had prompted her to act.

Kavitha questioned whether KCR had severed his emotional connection with Telangana after coming to power, and criticised his pivot toward a national political footprint. "He is no longer mana manishi (our man), but has become mara manishi ( machine man)," she said.

"He did a padayatra for RDS, but did nothing for Palamuru. The KCR of those days would have sat right there and seen it through. Instead, he went off to Punjab, Gujarat, and Bihar, declaring he had swept the state clean and rebranded as a national party. If he had truly cared about Telangana's people, would Palamuru-Rangareddy have run dry?," she asked.

Kavitha also trained her sights on Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and the Congress government, alleging that governance in the state had grown brutal and insensitive. She likened Revanth to Adolf Hitler and cited the demolition drives in Velugumatla as a case in point, claiming that the resulting distress had caused a pregnant woman to suffer a miscarriage. "I can still hear the cries of those affected," she said.

Broadening her critique, Kavitha targeted the BJP as well, alleging that the party had never genuinely supported the formation of Telangana. She pointed to remarks made in Parliament by BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, who had compared the Andhra Pradesh reorganisation to an India–Pakistan-type partition, as evidence of the party's true disposition toward the state.