For first time KCR’s family stays away from Lok Sabha polls

Hyderabad: For the first time since floating TRS (now BRS) 23 years ago, KCR family is staying away from Lok Sabha elections.

The former Chief Minister of Telangana and his family members fought for every Parliament and Assembly elections since 2004.

There were speculations that KCR or his son K. T. Rama Rao or nephew T. Harish Rao may contest Lok Sabha elections this time. However, none of the three MLAs entered the fray.

KCR’s daughter K. Kavitha, who had lost the 2019 election from the Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency is also not contesting this time. A member of the Telangana Legislative Council, she was recently arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

KCR, who had resigned from Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to float Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to revive the Telangana movement in 2001, was elected to Lok Sabha from Karimnagar in 2004 and had become a minister in the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre. He had retained the seat in by-elections held in 2006 and 2008.

In 2009, KCR was elected to Lok Sabha from Mahbubnagar. It was during this term that he succeeded in achieving the goal of Telangana state.

After TRS formed the first government in Telangana in 2014, KCR became the chief minister. His son and nephew, who were once again elected to the Assembly, became ministers in his Cabinet. In the simultaneous Parliamentary elections, KCR’s daughter Kavitha was elected to Lok Sabha from Nizamabad.

While TRS retained power in 2018, Kavitha lost the Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat to BJP’s Dharmapuri Arvind in the 2019 elections. She was later elected to the Legislative Council.

In the recent Assembly elections, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) lost power to Congress.

With the announcement of Gaddam Srinivas Yadav’s candidature from Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat on Sunday, the BRS has declared candidates for all 17 Lok Sabha seats going to polls on May 13.

The party has claimed that it maintained a social balance in the selection of candidates for Lok Sabha elections in Telangana.