K. Chandrashekar Rao

Kalvakuntla Chandrashekhar Rao (born 17 February 1954), better known and abbreviated as KCR ,[1][2][3] is an Indian politician serving as the first and current Chief Minister of Telangana since 2014. He is the leader and founder of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, a regional party in India.[4] He is a Member of the Legislative Assembly (Telangana) representing the Gajwel constituency. Previously, he served as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (Andhra Pradesh) from Siddipet and also as the Member of Parliament from Mahbubnagar, Karimnagar and Medak. He took oath as the first Chief Minister of Telangana in 2014 and was re-elected for the second term in 2018.[5]

K. Chandrashekar Rao
1st Chief Minister of Telangana
Assumed office
2 June 2014
GovernorE.S.L. Narasimhan
Tamilisai Soundararajan
Preceded byOffice Established
Minister of Labour and Employment (Government of India)
In office
22 May 2004 – 22 August 2006
Prime MinisterManmohan Singh
Deputy Speaker of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly
In office
1999–2001
Minister of Transport (Government of Andhra Pradesh)
In office
1996–1999
Minister of Drought & Relief (Government of Andhra Pradesh)
In office
1987–1988
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office
2009–2014
ConstituencyMahbubnagar (Telangana)
In office
2004–2009
ConstituencyKarimnagar (Telangana)
Member of Telengana Legislative Assembly
Assumed office
2014
ConstituencyGajwel, Telangana
In office
1985–2004
ConstituencySiddipet, Telangana
Personal details
Born (1954-02-17) 17 February 1954
Chintamadaka, Hyderabad State, India (present-day Telangana)
Political partyTelangana Rashtra Samithi
Spouse(s)K. Shobha
RelationsT. Harish Rao (nephew)
Joginapally Santosh Kumar (nephew)
ChildrenK. T. Rama Rao (son)
K. Kavitha (daughter)
ResidencePragathi Bhavan
Alma materOsmania University

Early life

Chandrashekhar Rao was born to Raghava Rao and Venkatamma on 17 February 1954 in Chintamadaka village near Siddipet of present-day Telangana.[6] He attained a MA degree in Literature from Osmania University, Hyderabad.[7][8]

Early political career

Congress Party

Rao started his career with the youth Congress party in Medak district.[9]

Telugu Desam Party

Rao joined the Telugu Desam Party(TDP) in 1983 and contested against A. Madan Mohan and lost that election. He won four consecutive Assembly elections from Siddipet 1985 and 1999. From 1987–1988, he worked as Minister of Drought & Relief in Chief minister N. T. Rama Rao's cabinet. In 1990, he was appointed as TDP convener for Medak, Nizamabad, and Adilabad districts. In 1996, he worked as Transport minister in Chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu's cabinet. He also served as the deputy speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly from 2000–2001.[10]

Telangana Rashtra Samithi
Further information: Telangana movement
K. Chandra Shekhar Rao assumes the office of Labour and Employment Minister in New Delhi on 28 November 2004

On 27 April 2001, Rao resigned as Deputy Speaker, TDP Party as well.[11] He stood for the people of the Telangana region were being discriminated and believed that separate state is the only solution.[12] In April 2001, he formed the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Party at Jala Drushyam, Hyderabad to achieve Telangana statehood.[11] 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 with a Promise of Congress Party to give Telangana State and Rao was one of the five TRS candidates who was returned as MPs.[13][14]

TRS was part of the United Progressive Alliance coalition government, led by Congress. He went on to become a Union Cabinet minister of Labour and Employment in the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre with his party colleague Aelay Narendra who became minister of Rural Development and Jannu Jakaraiah as Chairman for National Minimum Wages Advisory Board. The party later withdrew from the coalition, saying that the Alliance was not minded to support a separate Telangana state.[15] He has resigned as MP in 2006 on a challenge of Congress and Won with a Huge Majority of more than 200,000 votes. Again he resigned as MP in agitation of Telangana movement and won with a minor Majority.

In 2009, Rao fought and won the Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha elections. In November 2009, he started a fast-unto-death, demanding the introduction of Telangana Bill in the Indian Parliament. After 11 days of beginning his fast, the Central Government said yes to Telangana as a separate state.[16]

The TRS party fought the general elections as part of the opposition coalition led by TDP. In 2014, Rao was elected as MLA from Gajwel Assembly Constituency of Medak Dist of Telangana State with a majority of 19,218 and as MP from Medak with a majority of 397029 on 16 May 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.[17]

Chief Minister of Telangana (2014–present)
K. Chandrashekar Rao with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Hyderabad Metro in 2017

Rao was sworn in as the first chief minister of the Telangana state at 12.57 pm on 2 June 2014. Rao, a staunch believer in astrology, numerology and Vaastu, is reported to have fixed this time for his inauguration as per the advice of priests to suit his lucky number ‘six’.[18][19][20] Rao was re-elected 8 times as TRS president.[21]

His welfare programs are aimed at reviving the rural economy and are focused on the development of each community. An intensive household survey, Samagra Kutumba Survey (SKS) was done in a single day on 19 August 2014 across the state to arrive at citizen information for rolling out welfare programs. The data collected pertaining to 94 parameters, covered one crore four lakh households in the State.[22]

Rao launched the Aarogya Lakshmi scheme on 1 January 2015.[23][24]

In September 2018, Rao dissolved the Telangana Legislative Assembly, nine months before the its term ends to go for an early election.[25] In December 2018, Rao was re-elected as Chief Minister for the second term, after winning the 2018 Telangana Legislative Assembly election.[26]

In May 2019, ahead of the 2019 Indian general election, Rao attempted to set up Federal Front along with leaders of other regional political parties. The Front's aim was to bring a non-Congress, non-BJP alliance to power at the Central Government of India.[27][28]

Personal life

Rao is married to Shobha and has two children.[7] His son, K. T. Rama Rao, is a legislator from Rajanna Sircilla District, previous Karimnagar district, Telangana and is the cabinet minister for IT, Municipal Administration & Urban Development Departments. His daughter, Kalvakuntla Kavitha, is an EX M.P. from Nizamabad, Telangana. His nephew, Harish Rao, is MLA for the Siddipet constituency and is now the cabinet minister for finance, in the Telangana government. Rao has 9 sisters and 1 elder brother. Rao has good command over languages like Telugu, English, Urdu, and Hindi. He lives with his family at the official chief minister residence, Pragathi Bhavan in Hyderabad City.

Political statistics
Year Contested For Constituency Opponent Votes Majority Result
1 1983 MLA Siddipet Ananthula Madan Mohan (INC) 27889–28766 – 887 Lost
2 1985 T. Mahender Reddy (INC) 45215–29059 16156 Won
3 1989 Ananthula Madan Mohan (INC) 53145–39329 13816 Won
4 1994 64645–37538 27107 Won
5 1999 Mushinam Swamy Charan (INC) 69169–41614 27555 Won
6 2001 By Polls Mareddy Srinivas Reddy (TDP) 82632–23920 58712 Won
7 2004 Jilla Srinivas (TDP) 74287–29619 44668 Won
8 2004 MP Karimnagar Chennamaneni Vidyasagara Rao (BJP) 451199–320031 131168 Won
9 2006 By Polls T. Jeevan Reddy (INC) 378030–176448 201582 Won
10 2008 By Polls 269452–253687 15765 Won
11 2009 Mahabubnagar Devarakonda Vittal Rao (INC) 366569–346385 20184 Won
12 2014 MLA Gajwel Pratap Reddy Vanteru (TDP) 86694–67303 19391 Won
13 2014 MP Medak Narendara Nath (INC) 657492–260463 397029 Won
14 2018 MLA Gajwel Pratap Reddy Vanteru (INC) 125444–67154 58290 Won

Awards

References
  1. Telangana (13 March 2015). "KCR: The First Chief Minister of Telangana State". Telangana State Portal – Latest News Updates. Archived from the original on 17 February 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  2. "Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao KCR Profile, Wiki". Telangana State Information, History, Tourism, News, Govt Jobs & Results.
  3. "'Make in Telangana' should be a global standard: KCR". thehindu.com. The Hindu.
  4. "Telangana CM, K Chandrashekar Rao, a Hindi, but not English speaking CM in south India". timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
  5. Telangana is born as 29th state, K Chandrasekhar Rao takes oath as first CM – Times of India. Timesofindia.indiatimes.com (2 June 2014). Retrieved on 2017-06-16.
  6. "6,000 priests to hold special pujas on K Chandrasekhar Rao's birthday".
  7. "Fifteenth Lok Sabha Members Bioprofile". Parliament of India. Archived from the original on 31 March 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  8. "K Chandrashekar Rao: Know the journey of the 'architect' of Telangana movement". Moneycontrol. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  9. "K Chandrasekhar Rao: An obscure Congress foot soldier who became mascot of Telangana pride".
  10. "KCR to enter Congress via Telangana?". IBN Live. 26 February 2014. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  11. "Dy. Speaker resigns, launches new outfit". hindu.com. The Hindu. 28 April 2001. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  12. "Telangana finds a new man and moment". Hinduonnet.com. 19 May 2001. Archived from the original on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  13. "Politics of separation". Frontline. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  14. "KCR: The man who revived Telangana movement". Hindustan Times. 21 February 2014.
  15. "Telangana isn't scary". hindustantimes.com. Hindustan Times. 10 December 2009. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  16. "KCR smiles and ends a 11 days fast over Telangana". NDTV. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
  17. "TRS wins in Telangana". Deccan-Journal. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  18. "KCR to Be Sworn in Telangana State's First CM on June 2". Deccan-Journal. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  19. "KCR to Be Sworn in Telangana State's First CM on June 2". Deccan-Journal. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  20. "Politics of separation". Frontline. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  21. KCR re-elected 8 time as TRS president. INDToday. Retrieved on 16 June 2017.
  22. India, The Hans (24 February 2018). "Training programme for senior ISS officers ends". www.thehansindia.com.
  23. "'Arogya Laxmi' scheme". The Hindu. 6 January 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  24. Telangana becoming a role model State: Governor
  25. "KCR dissolves Telangana assembly for early polls, calls it a sacrifice". Hindustan Times. 6 September 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  26. "KCR wins by heavy margin, Congress distant second in Telangana". Hindustan Times. 12 December 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  27. May 11, Ch Sushil Rao | TNN | Updated; 2019; Ist, 07:49. "CM K Chandrasekhar Rao set to step up federal front efforts - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 26 November 2020.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  28. Lasania, Yunus Y. (8 May 2019). "As polls enter final stages, KCR hard sells federal front idea". mint. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  29. Telangana (17 March 2015). "CM KCR Bagged Indian of the Year 2014". Telangana State Portal – Latest News Updates.
  30. "CBI examines Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao for 2006 order as Union minister". The Times Of India.
  31. "Telangana CM examined by CBI team in 2006 case". The Hindu.
  32. "CBI Questions to KCR on UPA Era Case Raise a Few Eyebrows". The New Indian Express.
  33. Telangana (19 August 2017). "CM KCR gets "Agricultural Leadership Award 2017"". Telangana State News.
  34. ET Bureau (18 November 2018). "CM KCR gets "Economic Times business reformer of the year 2018 award"". Economic Times.
Preceded by
Position Established		 Chief Minister of Telangana
2 June 2014 – current		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
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