K. Kavitha

Kalvakuntla Kavitha (born 13 March 1978) is an Indian politician who currently serves as a MLC from Nizamabad since 2020. She is a member of Bharat Rashtra Samithi party. She represented as a Member of Parliament from Nizamabad Lok Sabha Constituency from 2014 to 2019. She is the daughter of former Chief Minister of Telangana, K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

Early life and education
Kalvakuntla Kavitha was born in Karimnagar to Chandrashekhar Rao and Shobha. Her father is leader of Telangana Movement and first chief minister of Telangana state. Her father is from Chinthamadaka village in Siddipet District, Telangana.

She has done her B.Tech in CSE from VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology and completed Master of Sciences from University of Southern Mississippi. Later, she worked as a software engineer in the USA before returning to India in 2006.

Kavitha is married to Devanapalli Anil Kumar, a Businessman. They have two sons.



Career
After her marriage, in 2003, Kavitha moved to the US with her husband. In 2006, she came back to India to help her father in various ways. In 2014, the new state of Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh and Kavitha's father was the leader of the movement for statehood. In the election of May 2014, her father's party swept the Telangana seats both for the state assembly and the national parliament and her father became the first Chief Minister of Telangana. She lost Lok Sabha election 2019 from Nizamabad to a BJP candidate Dharmapuri Arvind.

Early public life
In 2006, the Telangana movement got a fresh impetus with the resignation of its leader K Chandrashekhar Rao from the Union Cabinet to express his strong dissent with the Central Government for going back on the promise of Telangana State formation.

This inspired the people from Telangana, who left their careers to join the movement. Motivated by the commitment and sacrifices made by the movement's leader and others who joined the movement, Kavitha actively participated in the people's movement.

Telangana Jagruthi
Drawing Inspiration from the ongoing people's movement for the statehood of Telangana and a strong desire to work for the welfare of the people, led Kavitha to the formation of Telangana Jagruthi in August 2006. However, the organization was formally registered in November 2007. The word Jagruthi means Awakening. Awakening the Telangana society to a renewed sense of pride & unity was the goal.

Telangana Jagruthi played a key role in mobilizing the support of women and youth and also large sections of the society which acted as a force multiplier in the peaceful and non violent struggle for Telangana Statehood.

Telangana Jagruthi Skill Centers
K. Kavitha took an initiative to skill the youth of Telangana for making them ready for the gainful employment. Currently Telangana Jagruthi Skill Centers are imparting training to 8500 students across Telangana and assist them in placements.

Bathukamma
Kavithamma - as local people call her, is often identified with Bathukamma, a floral festival of Telangana. Kavitha worked for decade via Telangana Jagruthi and arranged organized celebrations of Bathukamma in Telangana and globally. Now Bathukamma is celebrated in more than 30 countries.

Labour and Trade Unions
Kavitha is actively involved in labour and trade unions. Currently she serves in the following Labour and Trade Unions.
 * 1) Honorary President  -  Telangana Rashtra Vidyut Karmika Sangham - TRVKS - Electricity Employees Union.
 * 2) Honorary President -   Telangana Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Association - TAWHA -  An organization of Anganwadi workers.

Bharat Scouts and Guides
K Kavitha has been elected the first state chief commissioner of Telangana chapter of Bharat Scouts and Guides (BS & G) Association. With her appointment as state chief commissioner, Kavitha became the youngest person to hold this position in the country. She is also the only second woman state chief commissioner in India. She formally took charge at the investiture ceremony held at the BSG state headquarters at Domalguda.

Political career
After the formation of Telangana state in 2014, Kavitha contested general elections from Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency and won with over 164,184 vote majority. She took active leadership in the protests and demonstrations that were organized in support of the statehood movement all across Telangana.

As an MP, in Parliament and public life, Kavitha supported the cause of Telangana as well as other national issues. Kavitha once again contested as an MP in the 2019 Indian general election from Nizamabad. She lost to Dharmapuri Arvind with a margin of 70,875 votes.

Kavitha is elected as Member of Legislative Council from Nizamabad Local Authorities' Constituency in October 2020 in the bypoll, which was held after the disqualification of the then sitting member R. Bhoopati Reddy. Kavitha had secured 728 votes out of the total 823. Kavitha was elected unopposed from Nizamabad Local Authorities constituency in the biennial polls to the Telangana Legislative Council held in December 2021 for the second time. She took oath as MLC on 19 January 2022.

Parliamentary Committee
In the Parliament, Kavitha is a member of the Estimates Committee, the Standing Committee on Commerce and also on the Consultative Committee, Ministry of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking water and Sanitation.

Commonwealth Parliamentary Association
Recently, Kavitha has been nominated to the Steering Committee of Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) India Region. Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians works for increasing the women representatives in Parliaments.

Parliamentary Delegation
Kavitha has traveled to many countries and officially she was a part of the Vice President's Delegation to Cambodia and Laos as well as with Lok Sabha Speaker's delegation to the European Parliament to Brussels, Belgium.

Controversies
In 2023, Kavitha has been accused of being directly involved in the Delhi liquor scam. She has been questioned and investigated by Enforcement Directorate (ED) regarding her role in the scam. She was arrested by the ED on 15 March 2024, Friday in connection with the liquor scam.

On 26 March 2024, Tuesday, Kavitha was sent to judicial custody for 15 days in Tihar Jail. On 11th April 2024, Thursday, she was again arrested by the CBI in Tihar Jail and has been held there since under custody.