New Delhi: In a first such open invitation, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader Kalvakuntla Kavitha said she “requested” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and general secretary K.C. Venugopal to send a representation to her protest for the Women’s Reservation Bill, in Delhi on Friday.
Kavitha also praised former Congress president Sonia Gandhi for having backed the Bill despite leading a coalition government in Delhi.
“Over the last few years (decades) various parties have tried to pass the Women’s Reservation Bill, I want to thank all of them, especially madam Sonia Gandhi who was very instrumental in bringing the Bill to the Rajya Sabha. From women across the nation, I salute her courage. Because back then it was a coalition government and yet she got the bill to the Rajya Sabha,” Kavitha, the daughter of Telangana CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), said Thursday.
“In 2010 when the Congress came back to power, it was due to madam Sonia Gandhi’s effort that the Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha. And since then it has been in cold storage,” she said, while also acknowledging the efforts by late prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
At the same time, Kavitha also urged the Congress to learn to be a team player rather than aspiring to be the team leader in the fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
‘It is Congress party’s habit to call anyone who raises their voice against BJP, their B-team. But, if you see Congress party’s position today, they’re nothing but a big regional party, they’re not a national party anymore. They must come out of this illusion and think of becoming strong in the interest of the country, not in their party’s interest. And whereever regional parties are strong they must align with them. So, Congress has to leave their arrogance and if they really want to defeat BJP in 2024, they must emerge as a team player and work with regional parties,” she said.
Kavitha’s comments come at a time when back in her home state Telangana, the Congress remains a strong adversary to BRS even though it has been ceding opposition space to the BJP.
In 2018, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now known as BRS) secured a resounding victory, winning 88 of 119 seats in Telangana, while the Congress emerged as the principal opposition party with 19 seats and 28 per cent vote share. The BJP was then a distance third with 1 seat and 7 per cent votes.
The TRS then won 9 seats in the 2019 general election, while the BJP secured 4 and the Congress 3. Since 2019, the BJP has been aggressively taking on the TRS and is being seen as a principal challenger, given its performance in assembly bypolls in the past two years.
Kavitha, along with her cultural non-profit organisation ‘Bharat Jagruthi,’ will hold a hunger strike at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar protesting for the Women’s Reservation Bill, demanding that the BJP government table in Parliament.
According to a statement from Kavitha’s office, the Delhi Police sent a request to change the venue for the Women’s Reservation Bill on Friday.
She said that 18 political parties and women’s organisations supporting the Bill would join Friday’s protest. Over 500 people will go on hunger strike, and over 6,000 have confirmed their presence in support of the Bill, she added.
“We’re requesting the PM and especially President Droupadi Murmu to pass the Bill. When the BJP wanted to pass the Aadhaar Bill, they termed it as a finance Bill, and bypassed it through the Rajya Sabha. They can pass the Women’s Reservation Bill if they want.. Modi, while campaigning in 2014, promised a Women’s Reservation Bill and then went quiet after winning. The same thing happened in 2019 when they (BJP) mentioned the Bill in their manifesto and not one leader spoke about it after a thumping win,” Kavitha said, adding that women representation in Parliament is just 14 per cent, way less than the global average.
Kavitha was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday for questioning in connection with the alleged Delhi excise scam. She was supposed to appear on Thursday but said she would appear Saturday given her protest programmes.
“I said I will appear on 16 March, they did not oblige. As a woman, I will have my fundamental right and well within the law to seek an investigation at my home. I even told them (ED) they can bring along any accused if they want while they question me. They did not listen. Why was the ED in a rush to question me and chose a day before my protest? It could have happened a day later as well,” she said, terming that the BJP is using central agencies to intimidate the opposition parties, especially those from poll-bound Telangana.
The state is due for polls in December.
Lashing out at the BJP-led government at the Centre for targeting the BRS after KCR raised his fight to emerge as an alternative to BJP at the national level, Kavitha said that the BJP is using their strategy ‘Modi se pehle ED.’
“From last June, the GoI has constantly been sending its agencies to Telangana. Why? Because Telangana elections are due in November or December. There have been more than 100 CBI raids, 200 ED raids, over 500 income tax raids, and 500 to 600 people have been questioned under the NIA,” Kavitha said, adding that all of them are either politicians, members of our party, or business houses that don’t subscribe to the BJP’s diktats.
Also Read: Delhi excise scam: ED says aide represented K. Kavitha’s interests, calls her for questioning
Cosy with Congress?
Kavitha appreciating Sonia Gandhi and her invitation to the Congress to join her fight appears that the BRS might slightly be trying to get closer to the Congress, said political observers.
“Her comments appear that they may be trying to get cosy with Congress, although that is not at all an option back in a state where they’re fighting against each other. (Telangana IT Minister) KTR, too, in his press meet on Friday, spoke about how there have been cases filed on Congress leaders when he was talking about how there are cases against non–BJP leaders,” political analyst Telakapalli Ravi said.
KCR, since 2018, had been speaking about establishing a non-BJP and non-Congress front, but nothing materliased. Last year, he renamed his party to BRS with an aim of establishing it as a national party and a strong alternative to existing national parties, especially the BJP. As an immediate step, the party is looking to slowly set its footprint in Maharashtra.
“Will this mean that KCR will support the Congress in 2024? That’s too early to say but is very much a possibility. We have seen instances in the past when parties supported each other from outside like the Congress supporting the United Front. KCR has always left this area (support to Congress) as a grey area,” Ravi added.
Senior political analyst Pulla Rao noted how the BRS was being soft towards the Congress over the last few months. Rao also predicts a possibility of the BRS and the Congress working together back in Telangana.
“Kavitha’s invitation is the first such open invitation to the Congress but the BRS has been soft towards them over the past few months. For instance, BRS MPs attended the Opposition parties’ Parliament meetings with Congress,” Rao said, adding that this might benefit KCR during polls.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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