When she
first got a ticket for contesting Parliamentary elections two years back many
chose to dismiss her as another beneficiary 
of dynasty politics. After two years Kalvakuntla Kavitha has finally
emerged from the shadow of her father and chief minister of Telangana K Chandrasekhara
Rao, gradually carving out her own place as well as that of the new state she
represents in the political spheres of the capital. She talked about the hard
time faced by the MPs from Telangana to get the state’s dues from the Central
government and their current rapport with the ruling party at the Centre.
Excerpts: 

Q. You
are pretty active in Delhi for a first time MP. You are always present whenever
there is any delegation from Telangana. Was that role chalked out by the party?

A.
Actually, we figured out early that in Delhi, it is all about strength and
numbers. It is far more effective when 12 MPs go to visit a minister than going
alone with a problem of your constituency. So whichever MP has to meet a
minister, we all go together and of course this is true when somebody visits
from the state as well. We also stick together whenever there are complex
issues involved, such as bifurcation, issues involving employees or separate
High Court. The party decides what we do and in our family we keep politics separate.
Like if my father is in a meeting I simply cannot barge in. That’s the way we
were raised.

Q. Since
TDP-BJP had pre-poll alliance is it a harder struggle to get for the state
whatever Andhra Pradesh is getting from the Centre?

A. We do
not want what Andhra Pradesh is getting. In fact I always tell them at the
Centre that please do not compare us with AP. We are not the same. Telangana is
a hub of pharma industries, IT and defence research. We are not financially
stressed like AP. Would you equate us with Odisha or Maharashtra? We do not
grudge what AP is getting. I don’t think if AP gets special status all these
industries here would pack up and promptly go to Vijayawada. It was the fault
of AP politicians that they only concentrated growth at Hyderabad. Why isn’t
there a good hospital in Vijayawada or Vizag? Vizag is such a beautiful city,
why did not they develop it?

Q. So
you don’t think the two states are like Siamese twins?

A. No we
are certainly not like Siamese twins, we were married definitely and it was a
very bad marriage. Today we have surplus budget that once again proves that
whatever excess revenue was collected from Hyderabad it was transferred to the
rest of AP. But the Centre is now treating us like the residual state while AP
is actually the residual state and Telangana is the new state. Except Hyderabad
all our districts got Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF) for 60 years. How can
they shed their backwardness as soon as the state was bifurcated? What happened
to the job loss, resource loss that took place for all these 60 years? The
Centre suddenly stopped the funds for backward districts as if the region has
been developed overnight. We had to fight to get Rs 700 crore for the districts
while AP gets funds easily and there lies the advantage of a pre-poll alliance.
We too, want to be treated fairly. Instead, because of local politics Amit Shah
comes and declares we are the most corrupt state when corruption has hit rock
bottom during the past two years. In United AP, the mining revenue was only Rs
5 crore which now has gone up to Rs 1000 crore. And the demands they make! They
want us to celebrate liberation day on 18 September when Hyderabad joined the
Indian state!

 Q. So
what are the terms like when it comes to BJP at the Centre?

A. Very
friendly. We have supported all their Bills except for one or two clauses in
the Land Acquisition Bill. All the Bills like Insurance Bill, Bankruptcy Bill,
important for tax reforms were supported by us. We were among the first ones to
ratify the GST Bill. But there is no reciprocation. We had to wait for seven
months for allocation of IAS officers, all it required was a signature. Both
Telangana and AP suffered at that time. The first three months were definitely
the worst.

Q. Do
you think there is need for political reorganization in Telangana to develop
the state since the BJP is opposed to your alliance with MIM?

A. No,
Telangana is a start-up state. We would be cordial to whoever is in power at
the Centre. Politically, we are very secure. We have won every election in the
state since 2014 including the Hyderabad local polls where BJP was reduced to
just four seats while we got nearly 100 seats. The Centre-state relationship need
not be dragged into politics, though there would be some. Now things stand
better with Centre understanding we are serious about the state’s development.
Earlier they were quite hostile but it is better. Obviously, we are not getting
as much as AP does but central government now understands how serious we are
about development of our new state. There isn’t exactly bonhomie between us but
relations are now cordial.

Q. What
are the signs which indicate things are cordial between the state and Centre?

A. The
Prime Minister visited Telangana after two years and appreciated our
programmes. The Niti Ayog members have visited the state twice and even said
that some of our programmes should be implemented in the rest of the country.
Central ministers are visiting Telangana and remarking about the government in
a good way. In fact the local BJP is objecting to their own ministers coming
and expressing appreciation for our work.

Q.
Finally, what happens when issues like triple talaq come up? Would TRS support
the BJP for the development even though it has a large minority vote bank?

A. We
are very careful and we do not want to drag politics in religious issues. It is
my personal view that BJP is raising the issue to get more votes in UP. It will
die down once elections get over. Every time UP goes to elections, issues like
Ram Janmabhoomi crop up. What does a regional party like TRS has to do with
such issues? Telangana is known for its Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb. We will never
hurt the sentiment of minorities. We will try to balance.