K Chandrashekar Rao's cabinet has no woman minister (File)
As Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao came under attack for not inducting a woman member into the cabinet, his daughter and Telangana Rashtra Samithi Lok Sabha member K Kavitha said on Friday she can't influence her father to do so.
Senior BJP leader in Telangana G Kishan Reddy recently hit out at Mr Rao for not inducting women members in his recently expanded cabinet and sought registration of a case against him.
The Chief Minister, who assumed charge on December 13 for the second time after TRS returned to power, has come under criticism for not giving representation to women in the Cabinet, which was expanded on Tuesday with induction of ten members.
In his first term Cabinet also, none of the women members secured a berth.
During an interaction at the Indian School of Business, Kavitha said no political party, including the TRS, gave "equal space" to women in politics.
This issue would get addressed only if it's mandated by Parliament or the Election Commission, she opined.
Kavitha said of a total of 85-plus TRS MLAs, only four were women.
"I would never shy away and today I again reiterate that no party -- it could be TRS, it could be Congress, it could be BJP, whichever party, it will not give equal space to women unless and until it is mandated by the Election Commission of India or the Parliament," she said.
"If you talk about me wielding my power around my father (to induct a woman into the Council of Ministers), I don't think that's how it works in politics", the lone TRS woman Lok Sabha member said.
Kavitha said she was a "very junior" member of the party and influencing her father, a leader with 40 years of experience, "is not going to work."
"Trust me on that and especially for women, it has to be mandated....I never shied away from saying this because TRS is no different from any other party", she said.
Kavitha also said she does not hope that the Women's reservation bill, which is pending in Parliament, would be passed in the near future.