K Chandrasekhar Rao's Cabinet for a strong Telangana

CHALLENGES

• Home, prisons, fire services, labour and employment: Try to initiate talks with Moaists to resolve Naxalism issue
• Improve law and order situation in hyper-sensitive areas
• Intelligence and surveillance mechanism to be stepped up to check terrorist activities, especially in city.

• To improve public health care in rural areas by recruiting doctors and nurses and providing quality healthcare by upgrading facilities in government hospitals located in district headquarters
• To increase seats in medical UG and PG courses in overnment medical colleges to make medical education accessible to poor and meritorious students. Control corporate hospitals from fleecing patients by setting up a regulator.

Chief Minister Portfolio: Medical and Health

Born on March 2, 1960, 54-year old T. Rajaiah did his MBBS and hails from Station Ghanpur in Warangal district. Mr Rajaiah played a crucial role in the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) emerging as a major political force in Warangal district, known to be the hotbed of Telangana agitation. Mr Rajaiah was made the Deputy Chief Minister by the party president taking into consideration that he comes from Dalit community. The move was to counter criticism from opposition parties, especially the Congress, which targetted Mr Chandrashekhar Rao for failing to keep his earlier promise on making a Dalit the first CM of Telangana

• Forest and environmental clearance process to take up mining and other ventures to be tightened to conserve forests and environment
• Tribals living in forests to be provided adequate livelihood opportunities to ensure that they don’t migrate to towns and urban areas.
• Green cover to be increased in areas where it is lower and green cover to be protected by devising exclusive programmes.
• Involvement of local people to be increased in conserving the forests and environment by setting up ‘eco clubs’.

Portfolio: Forest and environment

• Identify unused lands allotted to various firms and persons by earlier governments and take possession of them.
• Not allow firms or persons to utilise land for purposes other than for which they were allotted.
• To increase revenues for state government through stamps and registration department by following scientific methods to determine market and registration rates.

The 61-year old, who hails from Hyderabad was elected as member of the Legislative Council from the Telangana Rashtra Samiti. Known to be a confidant of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, he has been actively involved with party activities for the last few years. Mr Ali is known to have played a major role in garnering the support of the minorities for the TRS in the recent elections. Made deputy chief minister to fulfil with Mr Chandrasekhar Rao’s election manifesto that a representative from the minorities would get the post. He was born on March 2, 1953.

• Check belt shops and spurious liquor. Tighten norms to rein in syndicates of liquor shop owners that artificially inflate prices of liquor.
• Arrest flow of illegal liquor from other states and countries into the state.
• Focus on creating awareness among people against consumption of alcohol.

Portfolio: Excise and Prohibition

Mr Padma Rao is the only legislator for the TRS from the city in the recent elections; he won from the Secunderabad Assembly seat, defeating sitting Congress candidate Jayasudha. He had won the elections in 2004 from Secunderabad, defeating Talasani Srinivas Yadav of the TD. He shifted to Sanathnagar for the 2009, but lost to Mr Marri Shashidhar Reddy. Mr Chandrasekhar Rao gifted Mr Padma Rao with the minister’s post with the aim of building the TRS cadre base in the city. Mr Padma Rao, who has completed Inter-mediate, has been entrusted with the responsibility of building the TRS ranks in the GHMC limits. Despite the TRS debacle in the 2009 polls, Mr Padma Rao stood by the party and Mr Chandra-sekhar Rao. He has stayed with the TRS since its inception in 2001 and has his own Facebook page. Born: April 7, 1954.

• Enhance brand image of Hyderabad to attract IT firms.
• Focus on Tier-II cities for small and medium sized IT firms.
• Provide quality human resources to IT firms
• Make Panchayat Raj bodies self-dependent by securing funds from the Centre.

Portfolio: Panchayat Raj, IT

The 38-year old K.T. Rama Rao, a Nizam College alumni, two post-graduate degrees; M.Sc in Biotechology from University of Pune and MBA in marketing and e-commerce from the City University of New York. He was working as senior manager for some time both in the US and India before turning turning to politics. Ever since he moved to India, KTR started taking interest in party affairs and played an active role. He joined the TRS full-time in 2006. Mr Rama Rao was named after TD founder and actor N.T. Rama Rao, as a mark of respect by Mr Chandrasekhar Rao. KTR, as he is popularly known, played a key role in organising agitations for statehood, especially the Million March on Tank Bund and Saagara Haaram on Necklace Road. He has helped Mr Chandrasekhar Rao, in building the party organisation in Telangana. He is frequently seen on national television, articulating the party’s stand on various issues. His wife K. Shailima is an IT consultant. He has two kids, daughter Himanshu, 9, and son Alakhya, 5. Born: July 24, 1976.

• Review the ongoing Jalayagnam projects and prioritise them to avoid undue benefit to contractors.
• Provide irrigate one lakh acres through Godavari and Krishna waters.
• Improve supply-marketing chain to bring down the prices of essential commodities. Set up more Rythu Bazaars.

Portfolio: Irrigation and marketing

Though Mr Harish Rao came into politics as the nephew of Mr K. Chandrasekhar Rao, Mr Harish Rao emerged as one of the top mass leaders of the TRS in Medak district. Such is his strength that all the opponents have been losing their deposits in every election that he fought. His margin of victory has increased with every election and almost touched the one-lakh mark in the recent elections, a rare achievement. Known for his strong, if sometimes controversial stands.

Mr Harish Rao has completed his BA and worked as minister in the first YSR Cabinet for a brief period before the party decided to quit the ministry on the Telangana issue.

Born on June 3, 1971, Mr Rao had emerged as the star campaigner for the TRS in general polls. He toured extensively in majority of the constituencies and ensured their victory. Even the TRS president had entrusted his entire campaigning activity in the Gajwel Assembly and the Medak Lok Sabha seats to Mr Harish Rao as he was busy touring T-districts. Though there were reports of the CM allotting him crucial power portfolio along with irrigation, he got marketing instead of power. However, the CM entrusted him the responsibility of all the more important legislative affairs minister.

• Implementing party’s manifesto of free and compulsory education from PG to KG for poorer sections of the society
• To remove the concept of separate Schedule Caste, Schedule Tribe, Backward Classes welfare schools
• and hostels for poor and set up
• integrated schools for all to bring equality among all sections.
• Control fees in private schools to make education affordable for middle and lower income groups.
• Improve quality in private professional colleges by adopting quality control norms.

Portfolio: Education

Born on July 18, 1965, the 49-year old Jagadishwar Reddy has completed his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Law degrees. He is a politburo member of the TRS and was elected from the Suryapet Assembly seat in the recent elections. He is known to be the ‘voice of the TRS’ in media circles, he regularly attends debates on television channels and expresses the party’s views on various issues forcefully, as official spokesperson of the TRS. A first-timer, the party wants to utilise Mr Jagadishwar Reddy’s oratory and organisation skills in running the government.

• Tighten norms against illict private bus operators.
• Strengthen the State Road Transport Corporation to make public transport accessible to all and affordable.
• Safety and security of passengers travelling in SRTC buses to be on the top of the agenda.
• Make private operators fall in line in adopting safety measures.
• To implement citizen-friendly services in offices of Road Transport Authority.
• Take steps to check middlemen menance, which is rampant in transport department.
• Issue clear cut directions for officials not to allow private operators as state-carriers and intensify raids to check this menace.

Portfolio: Transport

Born on September 23, 1963, Mahender Reddy has been elected from Tandur constituency. He pursued his Bachelor in Veterinary Science from the Osmania University. Mr Mahender Reddy has been actively associated with the Telangana movement for the last few years. He is the nephew of former minister and MLA P. Indra Reddy. He is also the chairman of Patnam Rajender Reddy Educational Society which runs several BE colleges

• Adopt green house technology to acquire higher agri production and cover 1,000 acres in each district.
• Provide 75 per cent subsidy to farmers who come forward to adopt newer technologies.
• Make state the seed bowl of India by taking up extensive production of seeds. l Encourage farmers to take up horticulture.

Portfolio: Agriculture, horticulture, and sericulture

Mr Pocharam Srinivas Reddy was a prominent Telugu Desam leader in Nizamabad district and had worked in Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu’s Cabinet earlier. He left the party as he did not agree with its stand on Telangana, and joined the TRS. Mr Srinivas Reddy, who discontinued his BE, hails from Pocharam and got elected from the Banswada Assembly constituency in Nizamabad district. Mr K. Chandrasekhar Rao was said to be keen to appointing him as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly but Mr Srinivas Reddy insisted that he wanted to join the Cabinet. His vast political and administrative experience is expected to help TRS both within the party and in the government. Born: February 10, 1949.

• Inculcate financial discipline in the government by avoiding unnecessary expenditure in various departments.
• Secure more funds from the Centre by releasing state grants promptly to fund Centrally-sponsored programmes.
• Check fiscal and revenue deficit by involving the heads of all departments.

Portfolio: Finance and planning

Mr Rajendar became the voice of the TRS in the Legislative Assembly since 2009. Though the party put in its worst performance in 2009 with single digit MLAs, Mr Rajendar could successfully raise Telangana issues and concerns with his oratory as leader of the TRS Legislature Party. His leadership and organisation skills helped the party in sustaining the Telangana movement in the Assembly and Mr Chandrasekhar Rao decided to reward him with the plum finance ministry for his contribution to the Telangana movement for the separate statehood. He won the recent elections from the Huzurabad Assembly constituency. He was born on March 20, 1964.