Kavitha claims come back to haunt TS BJP

 HYDERABAD: A line of attack by the BJP targeting BRS MLC K. Kavitha over the Delhi liquor scam and her alleged connection to it has now become a millstone around the Bharatiya Janata Party’s neck.

The BJP, for now, is unable to wriggle out of the situation, much of which was of its own making. “There is absolutely no clarity whatsoever on how to go about this,” a senior BJP functionary told Deccan Chronicle.

The BJP has been struggling in the wake of a fairly successful Congress attack, which has been claiming that the BJP was not taking action against Kavitha because it had entered into a secret pact with the BRS.

This was the view of a cross-section of BJP leaders that Deccan Chronicle spoke with.

Protestations by the state BJP leaders that the party has no role in taking forward the case — let alone having Kavitha arrested, as any such action is the purview of investigating agencies — have found few takers.

The party leader cited above said there was an increasing feeling that the BJP leaders in Delhi should not have brought up Kavitha’s name in the first instance, when they started talking about the liquor scam.

“When the initial revelations resulted in a lot of excitement within the party, the subsequent summons by the ED only added to the impression that action was impending and that she would be arrested. But nothing of that sort has happened and this has become a big problem for us,” the leader said.

Almost all senior BJP leaders in the state, at some point or the other, have talked about how Kavitha would be “arrested soon.” While not speaking in specifics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi too, during his speech at a public meeting in Warangal on July 8, said “corruption from the state has reached Delhi.”

Another Telangana BJP leader, who is an office-bearer, said: “The Prime Minister has spoken about it. And the investigative agencies will do what they have to do.”  

“But this lack of clarity is hurting us and we are not able to find a way out, and it appears more and more that the Congress line, that the BJP is somehow in cahoots with the BRS, appears to be taking hold. We don't know how, but we will have to find a way to counter this narrative,” the leader said.

Senior party leader and former MP Konda Vishweshwar Reddy said the BJP may appear to “have lost the plot, but there is a silver lining.”

“Yes, the Congress appears to have taken the upper hand. People who may have moved to the Congress line will move back and it will not be long before the perceptions will change. It is the BJP that will be seen as the party effective to put an end to KCR rule and the corrupt BRS government."

• BJP celebrated BRS MLC K. Kavitha’s alleged role in Delhi liquor scam
• She was expected to be arrested, but it has not come to pass.
• Congress alleges this is because of a BRS-BJP deal.
• BJP struggling to deny claim, finds few takers