Hyderabad: Before Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ED (Enforcement Directorate) comes, says Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) legislator K. Kavitha, rejecting allegations of her involvement in the Delhi excise policy case, in connection with which the central agency had questioned her earlier.
Congress leaders allege that the fact that the ED has not arrested her shows BRS-BJP collusion in the upcoming Telangana assembly polls.
In a free-wheeling interview with ThePrint Political Editor D.K. Singh, the BRS legislator who is also Telangana CM KCR’s daughter is dismissive of the BJP’s poll prospects in the state and puts up a stout defence of her father and the government led by him over charges of family rule, politics of freebies, unemployment and other issues dominating the poll campaign.
Q: A CVoter opinion poll shows your party falling behind the Congress in this election. What do you have to say about it?
A: CVoter survey said the same thing in the last election in 2018 as well but they miserably failed. So, now it is time for the nation to look at other proper, credible survey agencies. Last time, not only CVoter, but two-three other surveys also said the same thing. But we came back with a thumping majority. This time also, we will repeat ourselves but with a greater number of seats and votes.
Q: What do your father’s astrologers say?
A: See, my father is a very, very religious person. He doesn’t have so much belief in astrology, but, religious calendar, he follows quite a bit. Blessings of all the people and gods are there with us, and the people of Telangana.
Q: Let me come to the opinion poll again. You may not agree with the numbers (given by pollsters) but what everybody is looking at is the BJP’s slide in survey findings. The BJP was being seen as your principal challenger…
A: Sitting in Delhi, people assumed that the BJP was getting people’s love in Telangana, which was never the case. When you look at the 2018 numbers, the BJP lost deposits in 105 out of 119 seats. They will lose deposits in all 119 this time. They never had anything to slide back from. Delhi media picked it up because Amit Shah ji did a lot of rallies here. Modi ji came here once or twice. Many of their chief ministers, ministers constantly visit Telangana, trying to make some noise in the media. Looks like it worked in their favour, at least to create a perception.
Q: But the BJP did win Dubbaka and Huzurabad bypolls and sprang a big surprise in Greater Hyderabad municipal polls, too. Didn’t that show their ascendancy?
A: Dubbaka bypoll, yes, I agree we lost with a very small margin. But again, there is a lot of symbol management that happened. We lost a lot of votes to symbols looking like a car (BRS symbol). Munugode election was also a high-pitch election where we won after Dubbaka, and after a little-bit-better performance of the BJP in GHMC (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation). We won two huge elections that the BJP does not talk about — Nagarjuna Sagar and Munugode bypolls.
Interesting thing is that the Munugode bypoll candidate, who was their star and who got around 90,000 votes, has joined the Congress. Imagine the situation of the BJP.
Q: How would you explain the rise of the Congress? People were beginning to write it off and it’s suddenly back in the game…
A: No, we have always spoken about it. We said Congress will always be our principal opponent, but a very distant principal opponent. I still stand by it. The BRS will come back to power with a greater number.
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Q: The BJP winning 4 seats in 2019 Lok Sabha polls followed by victories in two assembly bypolls and performance in the GHMC election indicated a rising Hindutva sentiment in Telangana. How do you view this?
A: Well, in the 2019 election, across the nation, the BJP came back with a much higher number. It created history by winning 300-plus seats. Telangana was not an exception at that point of time. Yes, there was a wave of Hindutva and Modi. I personally lost in that election. They fielded 186 candidates, which necessitated 24 EVMs. So, 1,00,000 votes just got scattered. I lost. Mine is a technical loss. Forget my loss, but, ultimately, BJP winning was a national phenomenon. When you see today, right now on the ground, the BJP is not able to find candidates.
Q: The Congress accuses you of being hand in glove with the BJP…
A: Congress alleges the same thing in every state. Whoever is against the Congress has to be the BJP’s B-team. Now BJP says the same thing about us — ‘you are the Congress’ B-team’. The point here is that both the BJP and the Congress cannot digest any third force emerging and they will have to say something. But I will ask you a straight question: Why is ED not acting against Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi today? You tell me: Are the BJP and the Congress hand in glove?
Q: They are also asking why Kavitha has not been arrested in the Delhi liquor scam…
A: Why has Rahul Gandhi not been arrested? That is my simple question. What happened to that entire National Herald investigation? Nothing happened in my case because nothing is there. I am not saying that anything is there in National Herald. I don’t know. I don’t know if there is anything or not. But if you are alleging that someone is hand in glove with the BJP just because of a case, what about your case? Why is Rahul ji’s, Sonia ji‘s National Herald case on the backburner right now?
Q: How has the liquor scam case affected your politics, and also personally?
A: Well, it only exposes the Bharatiya Janata Party and the way they are misusing the agencies. It’s very unfortunate because the Congress opened the windows, these guys opened the doors… When an election is there, the ED is there. Before Modi, the ED goes. This is what every person understands today.
Q: PM Modi said KCR wanted to join the NDA… What about that?
A: My chief minister is the most outspoken in the whole nation. If he really wants to join the NDA, the first person he will tell is the people of Telangana — not Modi ji, not in a closed room, not ever. Modi ji wants to create a controversy just before an election. He has done it.
Q: Would you rule out joining the NDA in future, too?
A: Well, we have nothing to do with the BJP. We don’t subscribe to their ideology. We are not with them… and we are not with INDIA (Opposition alliance) as well. We do not agree with the Congress ideology as well because the Congress is equal to corruption. They grab power and try and make as much money as possible.
Q: The BRS government is accused of playing ‘freebie politics’ or what Prime Minister Modi would call ‘revdi politics’. How do you defend it?
A: Tagline of Telangana is dignity along with development. We don’t want to throw a pension of Rs 200 at an old person, and say ‘you can live now’. No, they can’t. We did a practical calculation of (how much) a single woman or a single man (would need) to survive. What do they need? They need Rs 740 (per month) for them to eat two times a day. Then, my leader said, ‘Rs 740 to eat. But what about medicine? What about transport? What about their basic necessities of getting around in the villages? Chocolate vocolate dena hai bachchon ko toh (if they want to buy chocolates for children), what will they do?’
That is why, in the beginning, we said, let us give 1,000, not 740. Rs 740 was the calculation at that point of time, according to inflation, that many of the retired IAS officers gave us. We said no. So, that is the scientific approach of the Telangana government.
The Congress government earlier used to give Rs 200 pension. Did they have any logic behind it? No. Today, many of the BJP-ruled states give 700. They can’t even buy a cylinder in Rs 700, whose rate has now gone up to Rs 1,100. You know Dharani scheme… where we brought in all the land-records modernisation that is done by using blockchain technology. It is not ‘revdi’ culture; it is a culture of welfarism with dignity.
We are No. 1 in making capital investment. Our CM believes in recharging the rural economy. That is why we give pensions. Where is that pension money spent? That is why we give our farmers incentive. Where is it spent? The money comes back into the system. We believe in something called velocity of a rupee that can be kicked in by infusing money into villages.
Q: Unemployment seems to be a major issue in this election…
A: Well, it’s a global problem, isn’t it? America has the highest unemployment rate today. India has highest unemployment rate today. In Telangana, we are able to manage it because we are able to engage a lot of youngsters in urban areas. We got in a lot of private investment. We are training our youngsters to become entrepreneurs. There are many special schemes, and thousands of youngsters are taking advantage of it. We are the only government who sent 8,000 kids to US, UK and many nations by giving them scholarships.
We are enabling our youngsters to dream bigger than government jobs. But, at the same time, we are probably the only state that gave away 2,25,000 government jobs. Yes, there could be issues of vacancies. But I will tell you how small the opposition in Telangana is. Whenever we put out a notification for any job, one or the other Congress fellow will go and file a petition in the court and that will drag on for years and years.
Q: What do you have to say about the Prime Minister and other BJP leaders’ dynasty charge against your family?
A: We don’t have to defend it. It is a fact. When people want to elect us, they will. We are a family of Telangana. We fought for the state. We didn’t have it easy. Nobody believed in what my leader, my father, believed in at that point of time. We believed in it. We jumped in, giving away a lot of things that we could have done at that point of time.
When BJP tries to brand us, who is (Union minister Jyotiraditya) Scindia? Isn’t Scindia’s whole family in the BJP for generations? Who is their Andhra Pradesh BJP leader (D. Purandeswari)? She is NTR’s daughter. Why did you (BJP) take her? Purandeswari ji? She was in the Congress. And what about Amit Shah ji’s family? What about Rajnath Singh ji’s family? Tum karo toh achcha, baki karenge toh achchha nahi hai (it’s only right when you do it). I, as the CM’s daughter, lost an election. So, that shows the power of the people. If they do not want to elect you, they will not elect you. Simple as that.
Q: There is this intense speculation about a possible succession plan after the assembly election…
A: Well, this is really not a monarchy. It won’t. There won’t be any succession.
Q: No, in the sense that the CM plays a bigger, larger national role and have a successor here…
A: Political situation changes every minute. Today we have state elections. Then we have national elections. We don’t know what is going to happen after that. My father, my leader, is a very outspoken person. He tells the whole world what he wants to do. Right now, I do not hear or see anything like that in my party happening. Our CM candidate is Mr KCR. We will come back to power and KCR garu will be the next CM. That much I know for now.
Q: And whenever there is a successor, as it happens in India, it’s always the son, isn’t it?
A: I have no idea. As I said, there is no concept of successor as of now. If it comes to a son or a daughter, I believe when it comes to positions like CM, PM, MP, MLA, everybody becomes gender-neutral. Don’t you think they have to work very hard?
Q: On a lighter note, I am not trying to pit you against (KCR’s son and state minister) KTR…
A. No, no, no. You couldn’t even if you wanted to because he is a senior MLA. He joined the party much earlier than I did. I just won the election once and then lost an election. But then the party did give me a good place. They made me an MLC.
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