Telangana chief minister Chandrasekhar Rao hands over reins of TRS to son
From tomorrow, KTR will be available to you for all the party needs and he will dedicate his full time for the party and bring about a coordination between the party and the government. K CHANDRASEKHAR RAO, TRS president and Telangana chief minister
HYDERABAD: Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday appointed his son and Siricilla MLA KT Rama Rao (KTR) as the working president of the party, three days after storming to power in the state.
This is the first time that the post of working president has been created in the 17-year-old history of the party.
Rao, popularly known as KCR, has been its undisputed leader since the beginning.
The TRS swept the recently concluded state elections, winning 88 of the state’s 119 seats. KTR, who attended the TRS executive committee meeting along with his father, was flooded with greetings by the party functionaries.
KCR said he will be playing a bigger role in the national politics and his son will concentrate on the party activities in the state hereafter.
“From tomorrow, KTR will be available to you for all the party needs and he will dedicate his full time for the party and bring about a coordination between the party and the government,” he said.
The TRS chief called upon the party leaders to gear up to face the forthcoming general elections to Lok Sabha. “We shall appoint an in-charge for every parliamentary constituency to oversee the electioneering of the party,” he said.
Political analyst and former Osmania University professor K Nageshwar said the development indicated that KTR was the chief minister’s political heir.
“There is a possibility that KCR will contest the Lok Sabha elections and move to Delhi to focus on national politics, while anointing KTR as the next chief minister,” he said.
KTR has been entrusted with the responsibility of strengthening the party organisation at the grassroots by stepping up its membership drive and constructing party offices at the district level.
“The chief minister is aiming at transforming the TRS into a powerful party in the entire country. And there is no better person than KTR, who successfully handled his role both in the party as well government till now. Therefore, he has entrusted the responsibilities of the party to KTR, who is his trusted lieutenant,” an official statement from the chief minister’s office said.
KCR’S nephew and righthand man T Harish Rao also wished KTR luck.
“Both of us worked together in the elections and we shall continue to work together. I will extend all possible support to him in all his future activities,” said Harish Rao, a three-term legislator, who was entrusted to look after KCR’S Gajwel constituency in the recently held polls.