assembly-elections

Updated: Dec 01, 2018 00:05 IST

A key election strategist of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), irrigation minister T Harish Rao had to come out strongly earlier this month to rebut reports that he wanted his uncle and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, better known as KCR, to lose from Gajwel.

Harish Rao, 46, has stood by KCR through thick and thin in the struggle for Telangana but, in recent months, there have been reports of disquiet in the first family of the TRS.

The reason, political observers say, is the prominence being given to KCR’s son KT Rama Rao in party affairs at the expense of Harish Rao. Murmurs of him being sidelined started when he was allotted a seat in the back row on the dais during a party plenary in April 2015. These became louder when Harish Rao in September, during a public meeting, said that he wanted to quit politics.

But KCR moved quickly to control the damage and handed over election management of the TRS and also his Gajwel constituency to his trusted nephew.

Having been the main TRS troubleshooter since its formation in April 2001, Harish Rao had resigned from the YS Rajasekhar Reddy cabinet in 2005 in protest against the ruling Congress party’s stand against the Telangana statehood demand.

The soft-spoken three-term legislator enjoys a good rapport with TRS leaders and workers.

Analysts say Revanth Reddy and Harish Rao are the two political leaders to watch in Telangana politics in the future.