The questioning of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter K. Kavitha in Delhi liquor scam case by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was continuing for more than six hours at her residence in Hyderabad.

A team of CBI officials were recording the statement of the Member of Legislative Council (MLC) of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) at her Banjara Hills residence.

The officials, including a woman, arrived in two vehicles amid tight security around 11 a.m. and since then the questioning continued. Sources said there was a lunch break during the questioning.

The surroundings of Kavitha’s house were deserted before the arrival of the CBI officials as she had requested her supporters and BRS leaders and workers not to gather there.

Barricades were erected to prevent any gathering. BRS sources said this was done as a gathering might be seen as an attempt to create hurdles in the CBI investigation.

The CBI had served a notice to Kavitha under Section 160 of Criminal Procedure Code, seeking her clarifications.

The CBI, in its notice, had mentioned that the case was registered on the basis of written complaint received from Praveen Kumar Rai, Director in the Union Home Ministry against Delhi Deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia and 14 others regarding the allegations pertaining to excise policy of Delhi for 2021-22.

“During the course of investigation of the subject cited case, certain facts have emerged which you may be acquainted with, hence your examination on such facts is required in the interest of investigation,” reads the CBI notice.

On November 30, Kavitha’s name had surfaced in the remand report filed by the ED in a Delhi court on Wednesday for remand of businessman Amit Arora in Delhi liquor policy scam.

According to the remand report, businessman Vijay Nair, who has already been arrested in the case, received kickbacks of Rs. 100 crore on behalf of AAP leaders from a group, called the ‘South Group’, controlled by Sarath Reddy, Kavitha and Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy.

Sarath Reddy, one of the directors of pharma major Aurobindo Pharma, has already been arrested.

Srinivasulu Reddy is a member of Parliament belonging to Andhra Pradesh’s ruling party YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).

Kavitha had initially agreed to the CBI’s request to meet them on December 6. However, she later wrote a letter to the agency seeking copies of the complaint from the Union Home Ministry and the FIR. In reply the CBI informed her that a copy of FIR and complaint is available on the website.

Kavitha, in her response on December 5, conveyed to the central agency that she had carefully gone through the content of the FIR, list of accused persons as well as the contents of the complaint but found that her name does not figure in any manner whatsoever.

She had conveyed to the central agency that she is not in a position to meet them on December 6 and proposed alternate dates.

The CBI informed Kavitha on December 6 that a team will visit her residence in Hyderabad on December 11 for her examination and recording of her statement in connection with the investigation in the case.

The central agency had asked her to confirm availability on the said date and time. Kavitha sent a reply the same day confirming her availability on the day.

TRS MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha, who is also the daughter of Telangana Chief  Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao, has been maintaining a stoic silence on politics ever since she was defeated in Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat in 2019.

Although she was made MLC in October 2020, she remained politically inactive even after a year.

But Kavitha on Thursday (today) finally broke her silence and talked about politics in the wake of Huzurabad by poll.

Kavitha tried to downplay Etala Rajender saying she doesn’t consider BJP as prime political rival of TRS.

She says TRS will win Huzurabad comfortably but she is not ready to accept this bypoll as a referendum on TRS government.

When Kavitha is so confident of TRS victory, why she is hesitant to accept this by poll as referendum is the question for which she has no answer.

This gave scope for suspicion that Kavitha has doubts about TRS victory and for this reason she is finding excuses saying people are not considering Huzurabad by poll as referendum

Hyderabad: K Kavitha, TRS MP from Nizamabad, said that no political party including TRS gave equal opportunity to woman in Indian politics so far. Unless the woman quota in politics is mandated by either Parliament or Elections Commission, the inequality issue can’t be resolved, she said.

Opposition parties particularly BJP leader G Kishan Reddy has been targeting TRS for not including woman in the state Cabinet. Responding to such criticism, Kavitha said: “I can’t influence my father-chief minister to induct woman into the Cabinet. I don’t hesitate to say that all political parties including TRS have not given an equal space to woman in the Indian politics so far. I am a junior leader of the party and how can I influence or demand my father, who’s with over 40 years of successful political career. If someone wants me to wield my power around my father, I don’t think that works in politics. However, I believe that unless the woman quota is mandated by the constitution, this burning problem can’t be resolve.”

Out of 90 TRS MLAs, only four are woman. TRS’ first term Cabinet during 2014-18 didn’t have any woman participation. Everybody expected that at least second-term Cabinet will have woman. But, recent expansion didn’t have any woman MLA.