Telangana Rakshana Sena (TRS) will contest the upcoming Khairatabad bypoll, party chief Kalvakuntla Kavitha announced at a press conference, making the election the newly formed party’s first electoral contest. Kavitha also used the announcement to launch a political attack on the Telangana government over public healthcare, education and alleged cross-floor defections.
Speaking at the party office on Saturday, Kavitha said the Khairatabad contest would be intended to give a “democratic lesson” to those who allow cross-floor defections, which she said undermine the Constitution and the law. She described the state government as incompetent and called for those unable to manage governance to step aside.
The announcement was closely tied to healthcare concerns. Kavitha said TRS would begin what she described as an “open war” over the systemic deterioration of public education and healthcare. Referring to the recent tragedy at RIMS Adilabad, she alleged that children had suffered and died because of government apathy. The source report did not provide an independent account of the incident or details of any official response to her allegations.
Kavitha cited official figures to highlight infant deaths across Telangana. According to the figures she shared, 6,000 infant deaths were recorded in 2020–21, 4,933 in 2022–23 and 3,853 in 2024–25. She said nearly 200 children had died in whichever district was examined, and claimed that 1,046 children died in Hyderabad alone during the previous year.
She also criticised the state’s healthcare spending. Kavitha said healthcare had been promised 10% of the budget but was receiving 5%. She claimed that of the ₹13,192 crore allocated in the previous year, only ₹9,242 crore had been spent, leaving around ₹3,000 crore unspent before fresh allocations of ₹1,900 crore were made. She said the Comptroller and Auditor General had severely reprimanded the government over the spending pattern.
Kavitha further claimed that seven of 11 health schemes had received zero budget allocations, while ₹500 crore in Aarogyasri arrears remained pending. She said patients at NIMS faced a seven-month wait for surgeries and that securing a bed could require the Chief Minister’s intervention. She also alleged that Niloufer Hospital was operating at 200% bed occupancy. These claims were presented at the press conference and were not independently verified in the source report.
TRS said it would visit government hospitals in every district as part of its campaign. Kavitha urged residents and young people to inspect local medical facilities, document conditions through photographs and question authorities. She also demanded that private hospitals operating on government-allotted land strictly implement the mandatory 25% free-treatment quota for poor patients.
The immediate electoral test for the party will be the Khairatabad bypoll. The source report did not specify the polling date, the party’s candidate or the vacancy that has triggered the by-election. Further details on the contest and TRS’s campaign are expected as the electoral process advances.
