Hyderabad: BJP MP Raghunandan Rao on Friday hit out at BRS MLC Kavitha’s remarks opposing any merger or alliance between the BRS and the BJP, dismissing her stance as irrelevant and a sign of desperation.

Speaking to reporters at the BJP’s state office in Hyderabad, Raghunandan Rao claimed that the BJP was growing in strength on its own and did not need any alliances to expand its footprint in Telangana. “The BRS is the only party that has relied on alliances to survive, whether it was with the TDP in 2009 or with the Congress. Now, they are resorting to the same old political theatrics,” he charged.

Raghunandan Rao also took a swipe at BRS leaders, accusing Kavitha and K.T. Rama Rao of lacking any real political credibility. “The people of Nizamabad rejected them and kept them out of Parliament,” he said.

Mocking Kavitha’s Telangana Jagruthi organisation, Raghunandan Rao questioned whether the Bathukamma festival was ever celebrated before she launched her group.

He asserted that the BJP had not held any talks about a merger or alliance with the BRS, and dismissed such rumours as attempts to tarnish the BJP’s growing influence in the state.

Raghunandan Rao challenged Kavitha to come out and face the people directly instead of making “drawing-room statements.”

Accusing the KCR family of misusing power during their decade-long rule, he alleged that they had amassed personal wealth instead of working for the state’s welfare. He also charged the BRS with insulting the families of those who laid down their lives for Telangana, and declared that the people had given the BRS a “VRS” a forced retirement.

He ridiculed the KCR family’s latest attempts at “political rebonding,” calling it a drama of brother-sister unity to win back public sympathy.

Terming the BRS a defunct party, Raghunandan Rao said its leaders were trying to jump ship one by one.