Newsmaker | Shadowed by Delhi excise case, who is K Kavitha?

An MLC of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), a former MP, and the daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, K Kavitha, who has been under the scanner of central investigating agencies for almost two years now, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi liquor policy case on Friday.

Back in 2022, Kavitha first found herself in the eye of a storm as BJP leaders in New Delhi accused her of being involved in the alleged liquor policy scam, in which former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia is one of those arrested. The allegations surfaced at a time when the BJP was trying to make inroads in Telangana, facing resistance from the BRS. In the end, the BJP lost momentum as the elections approached and in last year’s polls, it was the Congress that succeeded in exploiting the anti-incumbency factor against the BRS.

Kavitha has vehemently denied all the allegations against her about the liquor scam. In an interview to The Indian Express just before the elections last year, when asked about the alleged scam, she said, “I had no role in it. They have made sweeping allegations and put the burden of proof on me … But we are fighting it. We are talking about state excesses and the misuse of agencies.”

Kavitha, 46, pursued her studies in the US before returning the state as the Telangana statehood movement gathered pace. She was an active participant in the movement, often leading huge all-women protests.

This is when, Kavitha later claimed, she became aware of the state’s distinct cultural traditions and became invested in promoting them. In August 2006, just five years after the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (as the BRS was earlier known) TRS was formed, Kavitha founded Telangana Jagruthi to promote the