Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao, abbreviated KCR, is the First Chief Minister of Telangana
and the president of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, a Regional Party in India. He is
a Member of the Legislative Assembly from the Gajwel constituency of Medak District
Telangana. Previously, he served as the Member of the Legislative Assembly from Siddipet
and also as the Member of Parliament from Mahbubnagar and Karimnagar. He took oath as
the first Chief Minister of the new state of Telangana on June 2, 2014. He was the cabinet
minister for Labour and Employment.
Early life Rao was born on 17 February 1954 in Chintamadaka
village, Siddipet Mandal, Medak District of Andhra Pradesh. into a family hailing from
Mohinikunta, a village in near Karimnagar Town located in the state of Telangana. He
attained a Masters degree in Telugu Literature from Osmania Arts College-Osmania University,
Hyderabad. Political career
Congress Party KCR started his career with the youth Congress
party in Medak district, controlled by Sanjay Gandhi in the 1970s.
Telugu Desam Party KCR joined the TDP in 1983 and contested against
A.Madan Mohan and lost that election. He won four consecutive Assembly elections from Siddipet
between 1985 and 1999. From 1987-1988, he worked as Minister of Drought & Relief in
Mr N. T. Ramarao's cabinet. In 1990, he was appointed as TDP convener for Medak, Nizamabad
and Adilabad districts. In 1996, he worked as Transport minister in Mr Chandrababau Naidu's
cabinet. He also served as the deputy speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly from 2000-2001.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi
On 27 April 2001, Rao resigned as Deputy Speaker and TDP MLA. He claimed that the politicians
of the region were being suppressed and believed that separate state is the only solution.
In April 2001, he formed the Telangana Rashtra Samithi to campaign for his separatist agenda.
In the Elections of 2014, Rao announced the first Member of the Legislative Assembly candidate
of Telangana Rashtra Samithi from Armoor, Telangana to Asannagari Jeevan Reddy.This
was the First ever announcement of MLA Candidates for 2014 Elections by any Political Party
in Telangana.Soon he went onto become the First Chief Minister of Telangana by winning
63 out of 119 Assembly Seats in Telangana including Armoor.The party also won 11 of
the 17 Lok Sabha Seats in Telangana and came out as a super power in Telangana Politics.
In the elections of 2004, Rao won the Siddipet state assembly constituency and also the Karimnagar
Lok Sabha constituency, both as a TRS candidate.The TRS fought the 2004 general elections in alliance
with the Indian National Congress and Rao was one of the five TRS candidates who were
returned as MPs. TRS was part of the United Progressive Alliance
coalition government, led by Congress. The party later withdrew from the coalition, saying
that the Alliance was not minded to support a separate Telangana state. In 2004, he fought
the Lok Sabha polls and went on to become a Union Cabinet minister of Labour and Employment
in the UPA-1 government at the Centre. He resigned in 2006. In 2009, Rao fought and
won the Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha by election for the TRS,the party fought the general elections
as part of the opposition coalition led by TDP. In 2014, Elected as MLA from Gajwel Constituency
of Medak Dist of Telangana State with a majority of 19218 and as MP from Medak Constituency
with a majority of 397029 on 16-5-2014. In Telangana, the TRS, which led the campaign
for a separate State for more than a decade, emerged victorious by winning 11 of the 17
Lok Sabha seats and 63 of the 119 Assembly seats, and emerged as the party with the largest
vote share. KCR was sworn in as the first chief minister of the Telangana state at 12.57
pm on June 2, the day when the new state will be born. Rao, a staunch believer in astrology,
numerology and Vaastu, is learnt to have fixed this time for his coronation as per the advice
of priests to suit his lucky number ‘six’. Personal life
Kalvakuntla Chandrashekhar Rao is married to Shobha and has two children. His son, K.
T. Rama Rao, is a legislator from Sircilla, Karimnagar district, Telangana; His daughter,
Kalvakuntla Kavitha, is M.P. from Nizamabad, Telangana . His nephew, Harish Rao, is Member
of the Legislative Assembly for the Siddipet constituency, Medak district, Telangana.
References