Ending over two months of speculation, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to expand his two-member cabinet on February 19, three days before the State Budget session said officials who were familiar with the development.
K Chandrashekhar Rao, who is popular as KCR among is followers stormed back to power in December last year registering a resounding victory in the state. Chandrasekhar Rao took over as Chief Minister for a second term on December 13. Mohd Mehmood Ali was the only minister to take oath of office along with him.
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Ali,66, has been a prominent Muslim face of TRS. He was also vital in the Telangana movement of 2001.
“Honourable Chief Minister Sri K Chandrashekhar Rao decided to expand the State Cabinet on 19th February 2019. The Chief Minister after meeting the Governor Sri ESL Narasimhan on Friday afternoon at Raj Bhavan conveyed his decision to expand the Cabinet,” said Official note.
Telangana Rashtriya Samithi Boss KCR, who is Known for his strong religious beliefs has decided to expand the cabinet on February 19, being the “Magha Shuddha Pournami” an auspicious day as per the Telugu calendar. The Chief Minister decided to expand the cabinet and have the swearing-in ceremony at 11.30 in the morning on that day.
Necessary instructions have been issued to officials concerned to make arrangements for the swearing-in ceremony of new Ministers, the note said.
Opposition parties including Congress and BJP in the State attacked KCR over the delay in forming a “full cabinet”.
Telangana can have a maximum of 17 ministers as per the constitutional cap of 15 per cent of the assembly strength of 119 members.
In the elections, TRS won 88 seats, Congress won 19 seats, AIMIM won 7 seats, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) won 2 seats. The BJP managed to win only a single seat this year against its 5 MLA in 2014.
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