Chandrasekhar Rao Cabinet gets six more ministers

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday expanded his 12-member Cabinet by inducting six new Ministers. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan administered the oath of office and secrecy to the Ministers at a well-attended swearing-in ceremony on the lawns of Raj Bhavan.

The incumbents are Mr. K.T. Rama Rao (Municipal Administration, Industries and Information Technology), Mr. T. Harish Rao (Finance), Ms. P. Sabita Indra Reddy (Education), Ms. Satyavathi Rathod (Scheduled Tribes, Women and Child Welfare), Mr. Gangula Kamalakar (Backward Classes Welfare and Civil Supplies) and Mr. Puvvada Ajay Kumar (Transport).

In a reshuffle of portfolios, the Chief Minister allocated education portfolio to Ms. Sabita Indra Reddy, relieving Mr. G. Jagdish Reddy who has now been given Energy. Similarly, Transport has been removed from the basket of Mr. V. Prashant Reddy and reallocated to Mr. Ajay Kumar.

The brief ceremony lasting eight minutes saw hundreds of supporters cheering their leaders, mainly Mr. Rama Rao, Mr. Harish Rao and Mr. Kamalakar, when they were sworn in. Slogans in support of Mr. Rama Rao rent the air even when he entered



the lawns 10 minutes ahead of the proceedings.

The Chief Minister, all his Cabinet colleagues and senior TRS leaders were present. Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi conducted the proceedings.

The Chief Minister and Governor walked up to the rostrum at the appointed time of 4.14 p.m. to meet the auspicious time for commencement of the programme.

This is the second expansion of the Cabinet after the TRS government was installed in power for the second term on December 13 last. Mr. Rao took oath along with Home Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali on that day and expanded his Ministry with 10 more Ministers on February 19. That left six more berths in the Cabinet to be filled which was completed on Sunday.

The expansion was significant for the inclusion of women in the Cabinet for the first time since the TRS came to power following the formation of Telangana on June 2, 2014. There were two members of the Legislative Council — Mr. Mohammed Mahmood Ali and Ms. Satyavathi Rathod — in the present Ministry against three in the previous term of the TRS government.