Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter Kalvakuntla Kavitha has been sacked as the honorary president of Telangana Boggu Gani Karmika Sangham (TBGKS), one of the prominent trade unions in the Singareni Collieries Company Ltd, affiliated to the BRS.
At a meeting held by the union at Peddapalli on March 23, the union leaders announced that Kavitha is no more their leader, as they are snapping ties with the BRS once and for all. As such, the TBGKS has disaffiliated from the BRS.
This is yet another big setback for Kavitha, who has been in judicial custody in Tihar jail for her alleged connection with the Delhi liquor policy scam. Hitherto, Kavitha had been its honourary president since 2017.
The Union leaders said the TBGKS would hereafter remain independent without any affiliation to any political party.
“We shall strive to work for the welfare of Singareni coal mine workers,” TBGKS chairman Miriyala Raji Reddy said.
The TBGKS also announced that it would not support any political party in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
In Peddapalli parliamentary constituency, however, the union has decided to support BRS candidate Koppula Eshwar, because he was a Singareni coal mine worker and a founder member of TBGKS.
The trade union was formed at Godavarikhani on January 27, 2003 and since then, it had been affiliated to the BRS. The TBGKS took active part in the movement for separate Telangana state.
The TBGKS lost the trade union elections in 2003 and 2007, but got elected as the recognised trade union in 2012 and 2017 elections.
During the recent trade union elections held in December 2023 following the loss of the BRS in the assembly elections held on November 30, Kavitha announced that the TBGKS would stay away from the elections.
This led to a lot of unrest within the TBGKS and its key leaders, including Raji Reddy, Venkat Rao and K Mallaiah announced their resignation from the union. But Kavitha did not accept their resignations.
Because of the chaos in the union, Communist Party of India-affiliated All India Trade Union Congress won majority of the posts in the trade union elections.