Two months after a massive election victory, KCR finally expands his cabinet, but retains most of the key portfolios.
THIRTY YEARS AGO, in the undivided Andhra Pradesh, legendary Telugu actor and chief minister N.T. Rama Rao (NTR) committed a costly mistake. In early February 1989, the founder of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) disbanded his 31-member cabinet in a huff. The reason—details of the state budget had made it to the first page of a Telugu daily before it was presented in the assembly. Within a week of disbanding the cabinet, he formed a new one with fresh faces. But, this move was later cited as one of the reasons for NTR’s humiliating defeat in the assembly elections held later that year.
Cut to February 2019. It took Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao two months to form a proper cabinet despite winning 88 of 119 seats in the election held in December. He may not suffer the fate of NTR as there were no widespread protests or strong criticism from the civil society against his two-member cabinet.
Ten more members were inducted into the cabinet on February 19, but there was no representation for women or scheduled tribes. After the oath-taking ceremony in Hyderabad, party leaders said the next expansion will be more accommodative.
Interestingly, the state lacked a fully-functional cabinet for more than five months, as KCR had dissolved the assembly in September 2018.
This story is from the March 03, 2019 edition of THE WEEK.
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This story is from the March 03, 2019 edition of THE WEEK.
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