Hyderabad: In a sensational new twist to the ongoing power tussle within the party, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on Tuesday suspended MLC K Kavitha for anti-party activities.

A statement to this effect was issued by party’s general secretaries Soma Bharat Kumar and Takkelapally Ravinder Rao. They said that the party had taken a serious note of her ‘anti-party activities’ that were ‘tarnishing’ the image of BRS.

BRS president K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) has taken a decision on the suspension of his daughter Kavitha, who is presently a member of Legislative Council under the local body quota from old Nizamabad district.

It may be recalled that in recent times, Kavitha has been quite vocal in her criticism of some party leaders besides restricting herself to the activities of Telangana Jagruthi. The first open dissent came in the form of a letter to her father KCR questioning him for his subdued stance against the BJP in his BRS Formation Day public meeting address earlier this year. After the letter was leaked, Kavitha alleged that there were demons around her father, and some leaders were conspiring against her.

While she was on a US tour, she was recently removed from the post of honorary president of Telangana Boggu Gani Karmika Sangham (TBGKS). On her return, Kavitha alleged during a press conference that party leaders T Harish Rao and J Santosh were responsible for the CBI inquiry on KCR. She described them as “anacondas of corruption” on Monday, hours after Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy announced on the floor of Assembly that the issue related to irregularities in the construction of the Kaleshwaram project would be handed over to the CBI for a thorough investigation.

"It does not matter whether the party survives or not when there is a CBI case on our President. The party should have pronto responded with a bandh call," said Kavitha.

Meanwhile, it is learnt the BRS leadership took the suspension decision after several hours of discussions at KCR’s farmhouse on Monday. The meeting, which went late into the night, was attended by working president KT Rama Rao, and senior leaders S Madhusudhana Chari, G Jagadish Reddy, Vemula Prashanth Reddy and Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, among others. They pointed out that KCR was visibly upset with his daughter’s rebellious attitude and utterances against Harish Rao. The BRS chief was of the view that Kavitha should not have made such comments at a time when the government was targeting the party alleging corruption and irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project. Her comments that Harish Rao was responsible for corruption is an indirect endorsement of the charges levelled by the Congress and BJP, said a senior leader.

Sources said that the party leaders wanted the president to issue a show cause notice and seek her explanation, but KCR wanted strict action to avoid similar outburst by other partymen.

The party leaders, meanwhile, welcomed the decision stating that the president has sent across a stern message that the future of the party cadre was more important than his daughter. Meanwhile, party leaders in Siddipet burnt the portrait of Kavitha alleging that she had colluded with the ruling party.

Welcoming the suspension, BRS whip KP Vivekanand said that Kavitha was confusing party leaders and activists with her activities, and these would damage the party further. He recalled that KCR had said quite earlier that he would not tolerate indiscipline, even if it was committed by any member of his family. This decision has made it clear that no one was bigger than the party, he said.