New Delhi: Former Nizamabad MP and former MLC in Telangana assembly, K. Kavitha, formally announced her intention to form a new party on Monday (January 5). This move solidifies her exit from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), sparked by her resignation on September 3, 2025. In a strategic challenge to the BRS legacy, Kavitha might contest the next assembly elections from Siddipet – the constituency that served as the launchpad for her father, K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), and is the current fortress of her cousin, T. Harish Rao.It is ideology not politickingSpeaking to the media outside the Legislative Council on Monday, Kavitha called her departure an ideological necessity rather than a political split. Drawing on rhetoric she has used since her suspension, she separated “geographical Telangana” – achieved with statehood – from “social Telangana,” which she claims remains elusive.“We are going to form a political party in the state,” Kavitha said. “It will create a lot of space for people who want to work in a democratic front. The BRS party, which we thought was our party – the Telangana people’s party – has betrayed us on a number of issues. It did not fulfil our aspirations.”In her final speech in the council, Kavitha appeared emotional as she discussed restrictions the BRS placed on her following the Bathukamma programme held after the state’s formation. She alleged a lack of support from party mouthpieces and declared: “I am leaving the House. But I will return as a force. I will create a political system in Telangana.”Kavitha stated that the Congress party attempted to label her resignation a “property dispute,” but insisted her struggle is for “self-respect”.Earlier, on January 2, during a press conference at the Telangana Jagruthi office, she displayed her resignation letters from the BRS and her MLC post. She was categorical about her disillusionment. “Even if KCR calls me, I will not return to that party,” she said. She contrasted her grassroots work through “Jagruti Janam Bata” – where she claims to witness people’s hardships firsthand – with the operational style of K.T. Rama Rao (KTR) and Harish Rao, whom she described as working solely “under KCR’s direction”.Target Siddipet and Harish RaoAccording to The Hindu, Kavitha mentioned that she intends to breach Siddipet, the safest BRS territory. The constituency holds profound significance; KCR represented it as an MLA five times between 1985 and 2004. His nephew, Harish Rao, has represented it since the 2004 bypoll.Kavitha’s strategy seeks to isolate Harish Rao as the architect of the BRS’s decline. She allegedly has made granular allegations, stating that while KCR faced public criticism and corruption allegations, it was Harish Rao who “accumulated wealth and exercised disproportionate influence.” She specifically blamed him for the “Kaleshwaram fiasco” and the failure of the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS).Internal family dynamicsThis split is rooted in a long-standing struggle for position within the BRS hierarchy. Senior journalist K. Srinivas noted that Kavitha previously identified a “core family” (herself, KCR, and KTR) versus a “peripheral family” (nephews Harish Rao and Rajya Sabha MP Santosh Kumar) issue.“She wanted to be the third most important figure after KCR and KTR,” Srinivas told The Wire earlier in September last year. “But she felt relegated to fifth or sixth place behind Harish and Santhosh.” He added that Kavitha felt “discriminated against within the family due to patriarchy” and had harboured ambitions to be the leader of opposition in the Legislative Council, a move reportedly rejected by KCR.The family fracture was apparent after Kavitha reportedly wrote a letter titled “My Dear Daddy” to KCR in May 2025 following the BRS silver jubilee meeting held in Warangal.BRS reactionThe BRS leadership has mounted a coordinated counter-attack. Former BRS MLA Gongidi Sunitha questioned the timing of the exit during a press conference at Telangana Bhavan.Sunitha asked Kavitha why, having resigned from her MLC seat four months ago, she waited so long to have it accepted. “Did you not resign gracefully?” Sunitha asked. “If you are technically a BRS member of the council, why did you do this in the council?”Women leaders, including G. Sunitha, T. Uma, and Sumitranand, accused Kavitha of playing a “victim card” to hide her alleged involvement in the Delhi liquor policy case. They asked whether Kavitha would take an oath on Yadadri Laxminarsimhaswamy and her children to state she had no role in the Delhi liquor scam. They further alleged that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s reputation was damaged because of her.Sunitha also questioned Kavitha’s consistency, asking why, if Kavitha opposed changing the party name from TRS to BRS, she changed “Telangana Jagruthi” to “Bharat Jagruthi.”Political impactSrinivas provided historical context on KCR’s national ambitions, comparing him to N.T. Rama Rao, who once sought to start a ‘Bharat Desam’ party. While NTR listened to advisors like Ramoji Rao and desisted, KCR remained “stubborn”. Srinivas argued KCR suffered from a “delusion” that expansion would grant him national leverage.“He thought if we become a party with a presence in two or three states… in Maharashtra local body elections… he put up candidates and spent on them,” Srinivas told The Wire. He noted KCR supplied money to regional parties – such as Stalin in Tamil Nadu or Kumaraswamy in Karnataka – while remaining favourable to the BJP in other states.Srinivas noted that while Kavitha’s criticism adds value, she lacks her own “vote strength.” He, however, underlined that she has “nuisance value”. Her allegations of corruption during the statehood movement strengthen existing narratives against the BRS. “Indirectly… this will all help Revanth Reddy,” he told The Wire.Political analyst K. Nageshwar dismissed the development as a “family feud” with little electoral consequence. He questioned the logic of her offensive against Harish Rao. “He is not the supreme leader. He is not even the heir apparent. He himself is struggling… fighting with KTR for his own space,” Nageshwar told The Wire. “She is not independent of KCR or BRS. She was the beneficiary of the movement and ten years of BRS rule.” He dismissed her current criticism as “post-mortem politics.”Addressing claims that Kavitha might be a “B-Team” for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Nageshwar compared her to Tamil actor Vijay. “In politics, any party can become the B-Team of any party,” he said, noting talks of a BJP-Vijay alliance.Nageshwar argued that KCR is unlikely to respond strategically because Kavitha is “inconsequential” on the ground. Instead, the BRS is reviving regional identity through water disputes with Andhra Pradesh to counter the Congress. “They are projecting that Revanth Reddy is Chandrababu’s man,” he told The Wire. “That regional element is coming back.”Electoral impactIn the 2023 elections, the vote share gap between Congress (39.40%) and BRS (37.35%) was just over 2%. Kavitha’s potential influence is concentrated in North Telangana districts like Nizamabad, Kamareddy, and Adilabad, where the BJP surged to 13.90% in 2023.In a four-cornered contest involving Congress, BRS, BJP, and Kavitha’s outfit, the “winning quotient” for a seat could drop to 28-30%. If Kavitha’s party pulls even 1-2% from the BRS base of women and youth, it could be fatal for BRS candidates in seats decided by margins of fewer than 3,000 votes. As Nageshwar cautioned, it remains to be seen whether her votes will come from the BRS, Congress, or the “anti-incumbency” pool.