Neither KTR Nor Harish Rao Find Place In Cabinet

In a surprise move, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao opted to keep out of his cabinet, at least for the present, his son K T Rama Rao and nephew T Harish Rao, even though he inducted 10 ministers today.

It may be mentioned that both KTR and Harish Rao were ministers in the previous cabinet. This had given rise to criticism from the opposition parties that KCR's family rule was going on in the state and that his family alone had got four jobs while his promise of jobs to the unemployed youth went nowhere. That may have played a role in KCR deciding to keep KTR and Harish Rao out.

KTR has been, however, recently appointed Working President of the TRS, and it is to be seen whether Harish Rao will also be given any position, either in the party or in the government. Whether one or both of them will be given cabinet positions in the next expansion after the Parliament elections is also to be seen.

Both KTR and Harish Rao attended the swearing in of the new ministers held at Raj Bhavan today. KTR greeted and spoke with the new ministers.

Another criticism faced by KCR during the previous regime was not having even one woman minister. However this time too the Chief Minister has not inducted even a single woman into his cabinet, though four women MLAs have been elected on TRS tickets.

There is no representation for the Scheduled Tribes (STs) either in the cabinet after today's expansion.

Party sources, however, indicated that in the next expansion of the cabinet, women and STs might find places.

There are also no Deputy Chief Ministers this time - there were two in the previous government: Mohd Mahmood Ali (a Muslim) and Kadiam Srihari (a SC member).