india

Updated: Feb 19, 2019 14:57 IST

Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday expanded his cabinet as he inducted ten ministers, including six first-timers, more than two months after his Telangana Rashtra Samithi returned to power for a second successive term.

Governor of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh ESL Narasimhan administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers at a simple 20-minute ceremony at Raj Bhavan at 11.33am.

Interestingly, KCR’s son KT Rama Rao and nephew and Siddipet MLA T Harish Rao, who held important portfolios of information technology and irrigation respectively in the previous cabinet, were left out this time.

While KTR, who took over as the TRS’ working president soon after the assembly elections, has been entrusted with the responsibility of leading the party in the upcoming Lok Sabha election, the denial of cabinet berth to Harish Rao led to speculation within the party that he was being deliberately sidelined.

It is learnt KCR does not want Harish Rao to emerge as an alternative power centre in the party and create hurdles for his son KTR, who is tipped to be the next chief minister, if the TRS president takes up an active role at the national level.

Harish, however, told media after the swearing-in ceremony that he is not disgruntled about not getting a cabinet berth.

“I am a trusted lieutenant of the party. I will abide by whatever decision my party leader KCR takes and take up whatever responsibility I am entrusted with. I have no groups in the party and I strongly condemn the reports that have been appearing on social media that I am sulking about not getting a cabinet post,” he said.

The total strength of the Telangana cabinet has gone up to 12 after the induction of the new ministers.

Among those who were sworn in on Tuesday, Etela Rajender from Huzurabad, G Jagadeesh Reddy from Suryapet, Talasani Srinivas Yadav from Sanathnagar and Allola Indrakaran Reddy from Nirmal had held cabinet posts in the previous tenure of the TRS government between 2014 and 2018.

The remaining six ministers, Singireddy Niranjan Reddy (Vanaparthi), Koppula Eswar (Dharmapuri), Errabelli Dayakar Rao (Palakurthi), Vemula Prasanth Reddy (Balkonda, V Srinivas Goud (Mahabubnagar) and Chamakura Malla Reddy (Medchal), have been inducted for the first time.

The Telangana cabinet, however, has no representation of women once again. In his previous tenure, KCR did not induct any woman minister in his cabinet.

“Maybe in the second phase of cabinet expansion which will be done after the Lok Sabha elections, KCR will take one or two women members into the cabinet,” a party spokesperson said.

The TRS chief took oath as the chief minister, along with senior legislator Mohammad Mahmud Ali, on December 13, two days after the declaration of assembly results. The TRS had received a huge mandate in the state assembly elections held on December 7 last year.