The latest from the Telugu states to fall from grace in the scandalous Delhi Liquor Policy case, is Telangana Chief Minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao’s (KCR) daughter K Kavitha.
Kavitha, a BRS (formerly TRS) party leader, member of Telangana Legislative Council and daughter of the state’s current Chief Minister, has been named in the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) probe, as one of the members of what the ED calls the ‘South Group’, in a reference to persons from South India, who are involved in the Delhi excise racket.
K. Kavitha’s name surfaced in the remand report filed by the ED on Wednesday, for custody and investigation of businessman, Amit Arora in connection with the Delhi liquor policy scam. According to the remand report, businessman Vijay Nair, who has already been arrested in the case, received kickbacks of ₹100 crores on behalf of AAP leaders from a group, called the ‘South Group’.
Manish Sisodia, a senior AAP leader, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister (holding the Excise portfolio, among others) and a close aide of Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal had also been named in the ED’s report. The ED’s remand report alleges that AAP’s Delhi liquor policy, promoted unhealthy, illegal “cartel” formations through a secret “back door” entry for certain members and awarded them exorbitant wholesale (12%) and retail (185%) profit margins as well as other illegal incentives/opportunities, the profitable rewards of which, would eventually be funnelled back into the accounts of some AAP leaders, for personal and party benefit.
In other words, the ED in its investigations unearthed a “front” organization or a “shell” company controlled by the individuals of the “south group” with the involvement of certain individuals (Vijay Nair, Amrit Arora and others) that enabled huge profit margins for these individuals, who in turn would pass on a percentage of the profits to members of the AAP, for personal or party benefit. The ED has alleged a criminal conspiracy between the leaders of AAP and individuals cited in its investigation report. The investigation is an ongoing one, likely to reveal more complex twists to a sordid financial conspiracy, linking AAP’s Delhi government, its cleverly formulated Liquor policy and a group of individuals acting as a liaison to enable kickbacks for the AAP.
The ED report states “The 12 per cent margin to the wholesalers was devised to extract half of it, as a kickback to the AAP leaders. Vijay Nair, on behalf of leaders of AAP has received kickbacks to the tune of Rs 100 crores from the ‘South Group’, controlled by Sarath Reddy, Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy and K Kavitha. The same has been disclosed by the detained Amit Arora in his statements”.
All three individuals named in the ‘south group’ so far, are Telugu. News of Kavitha’s alleged involvement in the Delhi liquor scam, comes several days after the ED’s earlier reports had already indicated a full blown involvement of individuals from the Telugu states of Andhra and Telangana, including businessmen with reportedly close ties to prominent political leaders of the states / current ruling parties.
This is the first time that the Telangana leader K Kavitha’s name has figured in the investigation, although accusations of her direct or indirect involvement, were first made back in August, by BJP MP Parvesh Varma and former MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa.
In a swift, defensive action and clever legal ploy to deflect negative publicity for herself, her father and her political party, K Kavitha has filed a defamation case in Hyderabad against the BJP, predictably claiming political vendetta. A city civil court in Hyderabad, has issued an interim order based on her plea, directing BJP leaders not to make any defamatory statements against Kavitha, while the probe was still underway and investigations were still ongoing.
Kavitha spoke of political over-reach, claiming that the BJP was trying to tarnish the image and reputation of her father, the Telangana Chief Minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) and his family by making baseless allegations, as he and his party have been fearless and vocal critics of the BJP’s policies. She also claimed that the BJP government at the centre, excercised “control” over all the investigative agencies in the nation and that cases have been filed against Opposition leaders indiscriminately. Kavitha reiterated that she would cooperate in the ED’s investigative efforts.
The Bharath Rashtra Samithi party (BRS, formally TRS- Telangana Rashtra Samithi) was until recently, a Telangana-based regional party, founded and headed by Kavitha’s father, K Chandrasekhar Rao. KCR had founded the party in 2001 with the aim of demanding a separate statehood for the Telangana region within the larger, unified Andhra Pradesh state. This goal was accomplished in 2014 under the aegis of the Congress-led UPA government, when the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh state was bifurcated into Andhra and Telangana. Since the 2014 creation of a new Telangana state, KCR’s party has dominated the state’s political scene and has been the ruling political party there, for two consecutive terms.
Kavitha and her brother, K T Rama Rao are leaders in her father’s party, holding important, high visibility leadership and legistative posts. With the BJP’s meteoric rise after the 2018 state elections and its rapid growth in Telangana , the incumbent BRS (formerly TRS) party appears to be insecure about its supremacy in the state and has begun to sound defensive about its own supposedly effective developmental and “secular” policies versus those of the BJP’s economic policies which it claims are, trumped up, inadequate and ineffective measures with a “communal” agenda. The party’s leadership began to feel threatened enough, to start considering National alliances and a possible “third front” as an alternative to both a BJP-led or a Congress-led alliance.
In line with its new ambitions, the regional TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi) party recently applied for a pan-Indian presence with the Election Commission of India (ECI) and re-christened itself, BRS- Bharat Rasthra Samithi.
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Delhi’s ‘Liquorgate’ Is Flowing Into Telangana
The latest from the Telugu states to fall from grace in the scandalous Delhi Liquor Policy case, is Telangana Chief Minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao’s (KCR) daughter K Kavitha.
Kavitha, a BRS (formerly TRS) party leader, member of Telangana Legislative Council and daughter of the state’s current Chief Minister, has been named in the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) probe, as one of the members of what the ED calls the ‘South Group’, in a reference to persons from South India, who are involved in the Delhi excise racket.
K. Kavitha’s name surfaced in the remand report filed by the ED on Wednesday, for custody and investigation of businessman, Amit Arora in connection with the Delhi liquor policy scam. According to the remand report, businessman Vijay Nair, who has already been arrested in the case, received kickbacks of ₹100 crores on behalf of AAP leaders from a group, called the ‘South Group’.
Manish Sisodia, a senior AAP leader, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister (holding the Excise portfolio, among others) and a close aide of Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal had also been named in the ED’s report. The ED’s remand report alleges that AAP’s Delhi liquor policy, promoted unhealthy, illegal “cartel” formations through a secret “back door” entry for certain members and awarded them exorbitant wholesale (12%) and retail (185%) profit margins as well as other illegal incentives/opportunities, the profitable rewards of which, would eventually be funnelled back into the accounts of some AAP leaders, for personal and party benefit.
In other words, the ED in its investigations unearthed a “front” organization or a “shell” company controlled by the individuals of the “south group” with the involvement of certain individuals (Vijay Nair, Amrit Arora and others) that enabled huge profit margins for these individuals, who in turn would pass on a percentage of the profits to members of the AAP, for personal or party benefit. The ED has alleged a criminal conspiracy between the leaders of AAP and individuals cited in its investigation report. The investigation is an ongoing one, likely to reveal more complex twists to a sordid financial conspiracy, linking AAP’s Delhi government, its cleverly formulated Liquor policy and a group of individuals acting as a liaison to enable kickbacks for the AAP.
The ED report states “The 12 per cent margin to the wholesalers was devised to extract half of it, as a kickback to the AAP leaders. Vijay Nair, on behalf of leaders of AAP has received kickbacks to the tune of Rs 100 crores from the ‘South Group’, controlled by Sarath Reddy, Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy and K Kavitha. The same has been disclosed by the detained Amit Arora in his statements”.
All three individuals named in the ‘south group’ so far, are Telugu. News of Kavitha’s alleged involvement in the Delhi liquor scam, comes several days after the ED’s earlier reports had already indicated a full blown involvement of individuals from the Telugu states of Andhra and Telangana, including businessmen with reportedly close ties to prominent political leaders of the states / current ruling parties.
This is the first time that the Telangana leader K Kavitha’s name has figured in the investigation, although accusations of her direct or indirect involvement, were first made back in August, by BJP MP Parvesh Varma and former MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa.
In a swift, defensive action and clever legal ploy to deflect negative publicity for herself, her father and her political party, K Kavitha has filed a defamation case in Hyderabad against the BJP, predictably claiming political vendetta. A city civil court in Hyderabad, has issued an interim order based on her plea, directing BJP leaders not to make any defamatory statements against Kavitha, while the probe was still underway and investigations were still ongoing.
Kavitha spoke of political over-reach, claiming that the BJP was trying to tarnish the image and reputation of her father, the Telangana Chief Minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) and his family by making baseless allegations, as he and his party have been fearless and vocal critics of the BJP’s policies. She also claimed that the BJP government at the centre, excercised “control” over all the investigative agencies in the nation and that cases have been filed against Opposition leaders indiscriminately. Kavitha reiterated that she would cooperate in the ED’s investigative efforts.
The Bharath Rashtra Samithi party (BRS, formally TRS- Telangana Rashtra Samithi) was until recently, a Telangana-based regional party, founded and headed by Kavitha’s father, K Chandrasekhar Rao. KCR had founded the party in 2001 with the aim of demanding a separate statehood for the Telangana region within the larger, unified Andhra Pradesh state. This goal was accomplished in 2014 under the aegis of the Congress-led UPA government, when the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh state was bifurcated into Andhra and Telangana. Since the 2014 creation of a new Telangana state, KCR’s party has dominated the state’s political scene and has been the ruling political party there, for two consecutive terms.
Kavitha and her brother, K T Rama Rao are leaders in her father’s party, holding important, high visibility leadership and legistative posts. With the BJP’s meteoric rise after the 2018 state elections and its rapid growth in Telangana , the incumbent BRS (formerly TRS) party appears to be insecure about its supremacy in the state and has begun to sound defensive about its own supposedly effective developmental and “secular” policies versus those of the BJP’s economic policies which it claims are, trumped up, inadequate and ineffective measures with a “communal” agenda. The party’s leadership began to feel threatened enough, to start considering National alliances and a possible “third front” as an alternative to both a BJP-led or a Congress-led alliance.
In line with its new ambitions, the regional TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi) party recently applied for a pan-Indian presence with the Election Commission of India (ECI) and re-christened itself, BRS- Bharat Rasthra Samithi.
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