Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan dropped Eatala Rajender from the State Cabinet with immediate effect, based on the recommendation of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. The decision comes in the wake of a preliminary report submitted by the Medak district collector confirming the allegations against Rajender in connection with encroachment of about 66 acres of assigned and ceiling lands in Achampet and Hakimpet villages of Masaipet mandal in Medak
district.
It may be recalled that Rajender was continuing in the State Cabinet as a Minister without a portfolio after the Health and Family Welfare portfolio was shifted to the Chief Minister. This is the first time that a senior Minister had faced severe allegations of land grabbing and the Chief Minister dropped him from the Cabinet following a detailed investigation into the allegations.