Hyderabad: Former minister and Siricilla MLA K.T. Rama Rao, is a few months away from occupying the Chief Minister’s chair.
As expected, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is paving the way for a smooth transfer of power to his son K T Rama Rao (KTR). He has just appointed him party working president and political pundits are waiting to see if he will be brought into the cabinet.
There are two scenarios doing the rounds in TRS circles regarding this. One is that Mr K. Chandrashekar Rao is keen to contest the Lok Sabha elections as he wants to play a role in national politics. He will then have to resign as Chief Minister.
The Lok Sabha elections are scheduled for April-May 2019. The election notification is expected in the February 2019 and once the notification is issued, Mr Rao may resign if he is aiming for the Lok Sabha. Mr Rao may want to make Mr Rama Rao the Chief Minister directly in the next two months without inducting him into the cabinet.
In these three months, Mr Rama Rao will concentrate on party affairs and the upcoming Panchayat elections. The TRS leadership feels that this will give an impression to the people of Telangana that Mr Rama Rao has sacrificed power and they will accept him as CM later. Another version is that Mr Rao may induct Mr Rama Rao into the cabinet now and hand over key responsibilities to him.
As a minister, Mr Rama Rao had a successful record in government and also party affairs in these last four-and-a-half years. But serving as minister is different from serving as Chief Minister. Inducting Mr Rama Rao into the cabinet and giving him important responsibilities will help him when he becomes Chief Minister.
Mr Rao is expected to announce the cabinet on December 17, when his intentions regarding Mr Rama Rao will be clear as he would be included in the first list of names. It may be of some significance that in the TRS executive meeting held on Friday, Mr Rao said, “KTR is available in the office from tomorrow. He will spend full time for the party.” It is seen as an indication that he may not be inducted into the cabinet.
A senior leader of the TRS said that the CM can take any decision he wants as “there will be no objections in the party or from the public” because of the huge mandate.
