The single-digit representation of women in the first list of assembly election candidates announced by the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Telangana has become a flashpoint among parties here. As soon as the list was released, which had only seven women among 115 candidates, opposition parties did not lose any time in pointing out the irony. BRS MLC K Kavitha, who is also the daughter of chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, had staged a dharna in Delhi, demanding that 33 per cent of seats in legislative assemblies be reserved for women. When her party’s list had a low number of women, she came under attack from the BJP, Congress, and YSRTP.

BJP spokesperson Rani Rudrama had said, “The BRS party ignoring women in its list shows that Kavitha’s protests in Delhi demanding that the Centre enact 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament was just drama.” On similar lines, Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy posted on social media site X: “Bangaru Kutumbam Family members created drama in Jantar Mantar demanding for 33% reservation for women in Parliament. In Bangaru Kutumbam Mathematics 33% reservation led to 6 seats (3+3= 6) being given for women by the BRS party this time.”

Congress’s women leaders held a press conference on Tuesday and alleged that Kavitha orchestrated a drama at Jantar Mantar to soften the blow of the Delhi liquor scam in which she is named as an accused. The meet saw the participation of Bandru Shobha Rani, Palvai Sravanthi, and Kalva Sujatha, among others. “The Congress is credited with adding reservation for women in local bodies. The party has given women the post of president of AICC, the post of Prime Minister, the post of Speaker in the Lok Sabha, and the post of President. We do not enact fake dramas,” the women said.

Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Telangana Party (YSRTP) president YS Sharmila advised Kavitha to “be the change you want to see”. “Does this list which has a negligible six per cent of women candidates represent your commitment and honesty towards 33 per cent reservation for women? It is a shame that you only showed fake concern with your Delhi drama recently. Whereas women constitute 50 per cent of the state’s population, fielding seven candidates is equivalent to insulting them,” she

In response to the allegations, the MLC launched a scathing attack on the opposition. Replying to Kishan Reddy, Kavitha said his concern for women’s rights was surprising, but she felt good that someone from the Bharatiya Janata Party had finally acknowledged this long-pending demand for the Women’s Reservation Bill, which aims to ensure increased representation for women. She pointed out the BJP’s failure to fulfil its two-time manifesto promise of passing the Bill. In her attack against the Congress, she called the party’s initiatives towards the tabling and passing of the Women’s Reservation Bill an eyewash and a mockery of the issue of women’s representation in political discourse.

Defending the BRS list, she added: “The chief minister believes that without a constitutional right in place, which exists now only in the election to local bodies, women’s reservations in the state legislatures and the Parliament are not possible.”