Is Telangana Undergoing Change of Guard?

Hyderabad, February 5 Telangana: An extended state executive committee of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi has been convened in Hyderabad on Sunday amid intense speculation that party president K Chandrasekhar Rao will step down soon and anoint his son K T Rama Rao as the next chief minister of Telangana.

However, this has led to strong rumours that there might be some news about KTR becoming the next chief minister, a topic which might come up for discussion at Sunday’s meeting

Telangana Bhavan:

An official statement from the party on Friday said that the meeting will be held at 2 pm at the Telangana Bhavan in the city and TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao will chair the meeting.

State committee members as well as state ministers, members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, legislators, members of the Legislative Council, state level corporation chairpersons, Zilla Parishad chairpersons, municipal mayors, DCCB presidents, and DCMS presidents, will attend the meeting.

TRS Party:

As per the release the TRS Party membership renewals, appointments of the party committees from village level to the state level, election of the party president, party annual day meeting on April 27 and other party’s institutional issues will be discussed at length,” it said. There is also a probability of discussing KCR’s birthday celebrations which falls on February 17 fuelling speculation that he might make a surprise declaration.

The sudden announcement of this meeting by KCR who has off late kept a low profile and is seen only in key strategic meetings has led to political analysts thinking about what KCR next move could be apart from the agenda mentioned above.

For the last few days, several party leaders including ministers and MLAs have been pitching for KTR, presently the working president of the TRS, taking over as the next chief minister. They said KTR had all the qualities of becoming the CM.

While assembly deputy speaker T Padma Rao described KTR as “chief minister-in-waiting” and extended advance congratulations to him on a public platform, state health minister Eatala Rajender said in an interview to a local television channel that KTR would definitely become the CM soon and he had already been discharging 90 per cent of his father’s responsibilities.

TRS party leaders:

This is not the first time that some ruling TRS party leaders have spoken in public about making KTR the CM. Earlier ministers Gangula Kamalakar, Talasani Srinivas Yadav and MLA Bajireddy Govardhan Reddy stated that KTR had all the qualifications to become the Chief Minister.

Health Minister Eatala Rajender had also made remarks during a campaign that KTR was going to become the CM soon. “KTR is set to become the CM soon. The swearing-in ceremony is also said to have been finalized during a meeting with senior members. He said, “If the need for change arises, Chief Minister KCR will himself hand over the reins to KTR. He also opined that there is no harm in the CM changing at this time.

TRS MLA Shakil Aamir Mohammed told TV channels that in his personal opinion it would be great if KCR gave a chance to young leader KTR to become the next CM, a view shared by some of his friends well.

Still uncertainty:

However, there is still uncertainty over the timing of KCR stepping down in favour of his son as the chief minister. The party leaders are planning to celebrate KCR’s 67th birthday on February 17 in a big way, including carrying out a massive “homam” with 10,000 invitees at Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad.

“There is talk in the party that he might hand over the reins to his son the following day. But there is also talk that he will resign in favour of KTR at the TRS plenary to be held on April 27,” the party leader quoted above said.

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