Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao Tuesday expanded his two-member Cabinet by inducting 10 members, ending two months of speculations.
There are six new faces — S Niranjan Reddy, Koppula Eashwar, Errabelli Dayakar Rao, V Srinivas Goud, Vemula Prashanth Reddy and Ch Malla Reddy — who have found a berth in the Council of Ministers.
A Indrakaran Reddy, Talasani Srinivas Yadav, G Jagadish Reddy and Etela Rajender, part of the Cabinet in Rao’s previous term, have returned to the Cabinet.
Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Governor E S L Narasimhan administered the oath of office and secrecy at Raj Bhavan, in the presence of Chandrasekhar Rao. The Cabinet, which now has 12 Ministers, does not include the Chief Minister’s nephew and senior TRS leader T Harish Rao, who earlier served as Irrigation Minister.
Surprisingly, the TRS supremo’s son, K T Rama Rao, who is gaining political prominence in the State has also been left out of the Council of Ministers. Rama Rao was made the party’s working president a day after his father assumed charge for the second term 13 December after the party won a thumping majority in the 119-member Assembly.
Rao’s first Cabinet did not have a woman minister and this one continues the trend.
When Chandrasekhar Rao was sworn, only one other Minister accompanied him and that was Mohammed Mahmood Ali who was allotted the Home portfolio. The Opposition had used the delay in Cabinet expansion as a stick to beat the government with as it amounted to “violation” of constitutional norms and hit the day-to-day administration.
Rejecting he charge, the Chief Minister said a high-level committee had looked into ways to streamline the entire administration by bringing together connected departments under one ministry and so, the exercise took time.
Last week, Chandrasekhar Rao fixed Tuesday for the Cabinet expansion as it is an “auspicious day” – the Magha Shuddha Pournami – as per the almanac.