TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao takes oath as CM of Telangana for second term

Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrasekhar Rao took oath as the state's Chief Minister for a second consecutive term on Thursday. The oath taking ceremony took place at 1.25 pm at Raj Bhavan in the presence of Governor ESL Narasimhan, who administered him the oath of office and secrecy.

The muhurtham of 1.25 pm was fixed for the oath taking ceremony because KCR reportedly believes in the superstition of muhurtham, vastu and numerology.

Besides KCR, Mohammed Mahmood Ali, who served as the Deputy Chief Minister in 2014, also took the oath of office and secrecy. Mahmood Ali will retain his position as the Deputy Chief Minister for this term as well. For the oath taking ceremony, all the winning TRS MLAs and the TRS’ friendly party AIMIM’s chief Asaduddin Owaisi were present.

The details of which legislator will bag which cabinet post in the new government is likely to be announced in another 2-3 days. Speculation is rife that Finance Minister Etala Rajender, who won from the Huzurabad constituency, might be elevated as the Deputy Chief Minister along with Mahmood Ali.

The TRS in the recently concluded Assembly elections won a massive 88 seats out of 119 constituencies. However, the strength has now increased to 90, after an independent MLA from Wyra, Lavudya Ramulu, and Ramagundam MLA Korukanti Chandar Patel of the Forward Bloc, joined the TRS on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, the newly-elected legislators of TRS met at the Telangana Bhavan, the TRS headquarters, and elected KCR as their leader.

Addressing the media, KCR disclosed his plans for national politics. He reiterated his proposal for a non-BJP and non-Congress Federal Front and further announced that he will extend the 'Rythu Bandhu' scheme, an investment support scheme for farmers, across the country.

The TRS chief said the proposed Front would place before the country an alternate economic model and a new agriculture model. He said that the proposed model would give freedom to the country from recurring droughts, end farmer suicides, and transform agriculture through full utilisation of 70,000 TMC of water.