Kavitha says TRS will contest Khairatabad Assembly bypoll

Telangana Rakshana Sena chief Kalvakuntla Kavitha has announced that her party will contest the Khairatabad Assembly by-election whenever it is held. “We will announce the candidate at the right time but we have decided to contest the bypoll,” Kavitha said at a press conference on Sunday. She did not name a candidate or provide a date for the election.

Kavitha said her party would use the contest to raise what she described as the issue of constitutional propriety. Her comments included criticism of elected representatives changing political allegiance across party lines. She also criticised investigations and what she called “farmhouse politics”.

Kavitha said Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy would not act against leaders of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, or BRS. “The idea is to create some sensation, hog headlines, settle the issue and forget it completely,” she said, while asking what had happened to the phone-tapping case.

The material did not include a response from the chief minister or the BRS to her remarks. Kavitha also addressed allegations concerning her properties. She challenged the government to establish that any illegality existed in her assets and said she had acquired her wealth legally.

She offered to surrender any property if it were established that she possessed assets beyond those declared in her election affidavit. The report did not state when the Khairatabad by-election would be held or identify the vacancy that prompted it.