Telangana CM KCR’s Daughter Kavitha Takes Oath as MLC, Speculations Rife of Likely Cabinet Role Soon
Kalvakuntla Kavitha on Thursday took oath as the member of Telangana Legislative Council in a ceremony held in the Speaker Gutta Sukhender Reddy’s Chamber in Hyderabad. She was elected as an MLC from local bodies in the recent elections, in which she secured record majority of 89% of the total votes polled.
Daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Kavitha has returned to politics after lying low following a shock defeat in Lok Sabha elections last year.
“Took oath as Kamareddy and Nizamabad districts local bodies MLC. I humbly thank my party for the opportunity and the local body representatives who have elected me to this position,” she tweeted after taking the oath.
The elections, necessitated by the disqualification of sitting MLC R Bhoopathi Reddy, were scheduled to be held on April 7 but were postponed indefinitely amid the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by the nationwide lockdown. According to new schedule, elections were held on October 9 and the results were announced on October 12.
There are speculations in the political circles that KCR may place Kavitha in his cabinet in the next expansion.
Kavitha was elected an MP from Nizamabad in 2014 and was defeated by BJP candidate Dharmapuri Aravind in 2019 elections with the margin of over 69,000 votes.
Assessing the political developments, political analyst P Raghavendra Reddy told IANS, “Kavitha’s election to the Council is on expected lines, and her possible induction into KCR’s cabinet should not surprise us. However, the long-term implications of this move cannot be assessed immediately.”
“A large section of Telangana voters may consider this as nepotism. KCR and family must keep a tab on the restlessness and expectations among the youth of Telangana, who are demanding suitable employment with the state government. And if this restlessness grows over the next 2-3 years, the issue of Kavitha’s induction into the cabinet and nepotism might come out as poll issue before 2023 elections,” he said.
Kavitha, who did her B.Tech in 1999, joined the movement for statehood to Telangana in 2008 after returning from the United States and floated Telangana Jagruthi to give a cultural thrust to the movement.
Like her father and brother, Kavitha has good command over various languages such as Telugu, English, Hindi and Urdu.
A mother of two sons aged 17 and 13 years, she is popular among TRS supporters, especially among women for organising and leading annual Bathukamma celebrations. Recently, she became active to lend a helping hand to people stranded in the Gulf during the pandemic.
The former MP is also active on social media platforms. Recently she clocked one million followers on Twitter. She is said to be the first woman politician in South India to reach this mark.
