Will 'Akka' Be The New Amma Of Southern Politics? Kavitha Plans 'Revenge' With Sisterhood Strategy

Last Updated:October 04, 2025, 10:31 IST

Expelled from BRS, Kavitha wants to drive women voters towards her to defeat both her father and her brother

K Kavitha (center) plans to woo women voters. (X @RaoKavitha)

Will ‘Akka’ K Kavitha be the next ‘Amma’ in southern politics? It has been exactly a month since Kavitha was expelled from her party BRS, founded by her father and former chief minister KCR. However, she is not sitting pretty. At the sprawling Telangana Jagruti office in Hyderabad, the social work outfit started by Kavitha around the same time as the Telangana agitation began, the leader is mobbed by supporters—mostly women—who call her Akka (sister).

In her office, small water bottles carry her pictures. What’s missing, though, is the picture of her brother and the heir apparent of the BRS, KTR.

With a sense of hurt, Kavitha says KTR “didn’t defend me when a BRS MLA attacked me and used filthy language. He could have just called me and asked me for my version".

Kavitha today stands at a crossroads as the two pictures in her room depict. Behind her is the picture of her father and BRS chief KCR. Next to her hangs an image of goddess Bathukamma, to whom a festival is dedicated in Telangana and parts of parts of Andhra Pradesh.

“I am in politics because of my father. I have been an MP, an MLC, and people know me," she says. But KCR and Kavitha have not spoken in a month. The only family member she is in touch with is her mother. But Kavitha knows a harsh truth. “My mother supports me and loves me. But in our country, everyone believes it’s the job of the men or sons to lead."

History is replete with several examples where women who managed to chart their own course were those who defied patriarchy or misogyny. Examples of Mamata Banerjee, J Jayalalithaa, Mayawati, and Sonia Gandhi shine. But then there are many who have had to contend with being the second fiddle or take a step back—like Priyanka Vadra or Mumtaz Patel.

But Kavitha does not want to be written off so soon.

Initially, the party’s plan was clear. While KTR would manage the state affairs, Kavitha was the woman and national interface of the party—a role she was happy in. But then things changed. As the BRS lost elections, a tussle began in the party. KTR and his supporters made it very clear that Kavitha’s wings would have to be clipped and, therefore, it came as no surprise when she was eventually suspended from the party overnight.

“It’s only fair that one is given a chance to explain. I was not given that chance. There were people who wanted me out and here I am," Kavitha says.

After Jayalalithaa, the South is yet to see the rise of a strong woman politician who takes centre stage. Telangana is one state where women outnumber men. As per latest statistics, there are 1000.2 women voters for every 1,000 men. It’s these women who helped the Congress come to power in the state and why the Revanth Reddy government continues to pamper them—politically, economically and socially empowering them. This is exactly how Kavitha hopes to take revenge from and defeat both her father as well as her brother by ensuring that women voters walk away—both from the Congress and the BRS—towards her.

Though Kavitha is yet to officially announce her party, she is travelling across the state as well as meeting politicians across the country. At one such recent rally, she was seen sharing stage with INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala in Haryana’s Rohtak. Like the Bathukamma festival, which worships many varieties of flowers, Kavitha thinks it’s time for different political parties to come together. Interestingly, her father KCR had tried to engineer a third front of non-BJP, non-Congress parties.

“I think this is the only solution. We can’t go with Congress and we need other parties to come together to form alternatives," she says.

Despite the bitter fallout with her father, for Kavitha, her two political inspirations are KCR and Margaret Thatcher. She knows that she cannot afford to win over people by attacking her father. Also, just like Thatcher, Kavitha is inspired by the strong women of Indian politics such as Mamata Banerjee.

“I will have to fight against three men, all who are formidable—the chief minister, my father and the prime minister." So, is she eyeing the chief minister’s post in future? “Why not," Kavitha asks.

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