Hyderabad: Is Telangana Jagruthi president Kalvakuntla Kavitha increasingly isolated within her family and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party? The conspicuous silence of prominent family members, particularly regarding Teenmar Mallanna’s recent controversial comments, strongly suggests a growing disconnect.

Notably, party working president K T Rama Rao and T Harish Rao, who previously offered staunch support to Kavitha, even travelling to Delhi during her arrest in the Delhi Government liquor case, have remained surprisingly silent. Conversely, the Congress party has, unpredictably, extended support to Kavitha. Comments made by Teenmar Mallanna (Chintapandu Naveen) against Kavitha triggered Telangana Jagruthi activists, who subsequently attacked the office of the channel run by the Congress MLC. Complaints have been filed against Jagruthi leaders for the assault. In this episode, it took more than 24 hours for the BRS party to issue a response, and that too in the form of a press release by the Leader of Opposition in the Council, S Madhusudhana Chary.

However, there has been no reaction from senior leaders like K T Rama Rao or Harish Rao, who frequently use X to express their opinions. Similarly, there has been no widespread outrage from the BRS cadre. In a contrasting incident, when a Telugu news channel aired reports about the party’s working president with fake thumbnails, the BRS student’s wing reportedly attacked the office, but no such organised attempt was seen from party leaders in Kavitha’s defence.

A day prior, BRS leaders K T Rama Rao and Harish Rao were summoned by party supremo K Chandrashekar Rao. It was anticipated that the party leaders would issue a statement on the Mallanna episode, but according to sources, no reference was made.

The perceived rift began with the Jagruthi president Kavitha writing a five-page letter to her father, K Chandrashekar Rao, in which she questioned the party president on numerous issues. After returning from America, she stated there were “demons” around K Chandrashekar Rao, hinting at internal differences. Following Kavitha’s comments, K T Rama Rao told reporters that there were “coverts of Revanth Reddy” within the party. After this incident, the BRS chief reportedly sent an emissary to meet Kavitha to resolve the differences, which temporarily halted speculations about internal discord. However, the Mallanna episode has once again brought this issue to the forefront.

The BRS cadre has also been noticeably absent from calls issued by Kavitha. Party leaders skipped a dharna organised against a notice given to K Chandrashekar Rao. More recently, Telangana Jagruthi organised celebrations after the Congress government announced an ordinance to provide 42 per cent reservations to Backward Classes in local body elections, but no BRS leaders or activists were present at these celebrations.

The unexpected comments from both BRS and Congress leaders have caused confusion among Kavitha’s followers. Congress leaders, including PCC Chief Mahesh Goud and Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, objected to the comments made by Mallanna against Kavitha, affirming that Congress respects women. Apart from Madhusudhana Chary, BRS LB Nagar MLA D Sudheer Reddy condemned Mallanna’s comments but also found fault with Jagruthi leaders for attacking the office, stating that attacks were not the solution in a democracy.