Ali from Old City Likely to be KCR's Deputy in Telangana Govt

TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao with Governor ESL Narasimhan at the Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad on Sunday

HYDERABAD: TRS chief and Telangana chief minister designate K Chandrasekhar Rao is likely to appoint party senior leader and MLC Mahmood Ali as his deputy.

KCR, set to be the first CM of Telangana State which will come into existence on June 2, has begun the exercise of selecting his new Cabinet. Party sources pointed out that KCR had already promised to make a leader from the minority community the deputy CM if he came to power and revealed that Mahmood Ali’s name is under consideration for the same. Mahmood Ali from Old City in Hyderabad has been a close aide of KCR ever since the latter floated the TRS over a decade ago.

Prominent among the other names likely to figure in Team KCR are TRS senior leader Etela Rajender (Huzurabad), who was the TRS Legislature Party leader in the recently dissolved House, former ministers Konda Surekha (Warangal East) and Jupally Krishna Rao (Kollapur). MLAs Koppula Eshwar (Dharmapuri), T Rajaiah (Station Ghanpur) and Enugu Ravinder Reddy are also said to be in the reckoning for a Cabinet berth.

Of the first-timers in the Assembly, Suryapet MLA G Jagadeeshwar Reddy, a trusted lieutenant of KCR, seems almost certain to make the cut. Telangana Gazetted Officers’ Association leader V Srinivas Goud (Mahbubnagar) and MLC K Swamy Goud are also in the race. The buzz in bureaucratic circles is that Rajender might be given a key portfolio like home.

“Ministerial aspirants are being sounded about the portfolios being considered for them. Once they express their views, the party chief will take a final call,” said a party insider.

The TRS chief is reportedly considering former minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy (Banswada), the senior-most among the TRS legislators, for the Speaker’s job, though Reddy wants to be in the Cabinet.

There is, however, no clarity on what role KCR’s son KT Rama Rao (Sircilla) and nephew T Harish Rao (Siddipet) will play in the days to come. Will they be entrusted with the responsibility of running the party or made part of the government? The TRS chief is still considering the issue and will take a call soon, sources said.