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| Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao greets Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Wednesday. Photo: PTI |
Hyderabad: Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao is likely to announce his cabinet by the end of this month, nearly three weeks after winning the assembly elections with a thumping majority.
Rao, who heads the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), is a staunch believer in astrology and thus the announcement was kept at bay as there are only two auspicious days (28 December and 30 December) for the task, said senior TRS leaders.
Rao, who is in New Delhi to meet political leaders to discuss his idea of forming a federal front, might not fill up all the 17 berths, said TRS leaders, who did not want to be quoted.
The chief minister is likely to choose about 10 ministers now and might decide on the rest after the Lok Sabha elections next year, they said.
Rao is likely to induct into his cabinet one of the three women MLAs of the party, unlike in 2014 when not a single woman was inducted.
The TRS won 88 of the 119 seats in the just-concluded assembly elections, decimating the Congress-led grand alliance of the Telugu Desam Party, Communist Party of India, and the Telangana Jana Samithi. Since the victory, Mohammad Mahmood Ali, the deputy chief minister in the previous government, was appointed the home minister. Both he and Rao took oath on 13 December, two days after the results were announced.
“There will definitely be new faces in this cabinet, but some of the senior leaders such as Eatala Rajender and T. Harish Rao are likely to be reinducted. KCR (as Rao is known) will take decisions based on caste as well, so that all communities are represented. Of course, individual capabilities as leaders will also be a factor,” said a senior TRS leader, who did not want to be quoted.
Rao’s son K.T. Rama Rao (KTR) and nephew (and senior leader) T. Harish Rao, who held the state IT and irrigation portfolios, are likely to be retained with the same roles.
In the last government, KTR was much appreciated by various sections of the public because of his role as IT minister and also for drawing investments to the state as he also had the industries portfolio. After the win of the TRS, KTR was also appointed as working president of the party, a role which did not exist until now.
On Wednesday, Rao met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss pending issues with regard to projects pertaining to the state. It was his first meeting with Modi after becoming chief minister. “There are certain poll promises which KCR made before the elections, including giving certain people cabinet berths, so he will want a smooth transition for the next six months. However, the biggest factor is that he wants only those leaders who are loyal not just to him, but who would also work under KTR, who will start taking party decisions,” said political analyst Palwai Raghavendra Reddy.
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