In the biggest upset among the contests for the Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, Nizamabad’s sitting MP Kalvakuntla Kavitha, also the daughter of Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao, has lost the seat to the BJP candidate Arvind Dharmapuri. While Kavitha polled less than 40% of the votes, Arvind defeated her with more than 45% of the votes, a margin of more than 70,000 votes.
After a triumphant win in the Assembly elections with 88 of 119 seats, it was considered a given that the KCR wave would ensure a huge victory for Kavitha. However, just days before the elections, she was faced with a unique challenge in the Parliamentary elections, as she was not only contesting against her rival Arvind from the BJP and senior Congress leader Madhu Yashki, she was also contesting against 174 turmeric farmers who had entered the poll fray to highlight their crisis. Kavitha had promised the setting up of a national turmeric board, but could not deliver on that.
Though dismayed that the farmers didn't pull out of the contest despite her requests, Kavitha had said that the agitating farmers were protesting against the Centre, and she was with them. She said that they will not affect her victory. But evidently, they have. Apart from the BJP, Congress and TRS, about 1 lakh votes were polled for the 182 other candidates, well over her margin of defeat.
Further, she was also not able to takeover the Nizam Sugar Factory, as promised by the TRS government. Both the issues seem to have impacted her victory. While Madhu Yashki remained mostly unavailable in the constituency, BJP leader Arvind, who made his political debut as MP candidate, filled the void and challenged Kavitha at every front. Arvind is the son of former TRS leader D Srinivas. Alleging that D Srinivas encouraged his son to contest against her from the BJP, she sought disciplinary action against Srinivas.