KCR Sings No Woman No Cry, Pushes Through His 'Select' Six

HYDERABAD: No woman is going to find a place in Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s team even in the second round of cabinet expansion, set for Tuesday.

KCR will be inducting six new Ministers, including three who defected to TRS from other parties. Though there are several aspirants under the women quota, KCR chose not to induct any of them in his cabinet, leaving strong aspirants like Konda Surekha and Kova Lakshmi sulking. In a relief for Lakshmi, the Asifabad MLA,  she would be made a Parliament Secretary.

According to highly-placed sources, the government sent a list of six names to the Governor’s office who would administer the oath to the new Ministers at Raj Bhavan at 11 am. They include Talasani Srinivas Yadav and Tummala Nageswara Rao (who defected from TDP to TRS), A Indrakaran Reddy (who won on a BSP ticket and joined TRS), Jupally Krishna Rao and Laxma Reddy (both from Mahbubnagar) and Ajmera Chandulal from Warangal.

TRS sources said Rao chose Srinivas Yadav to consolidate the party base in Hyderabad ahead of the GHMC elections. The TRS is maintaining friendly relations with MIM which could fetch the party some seats in the Old City. Also, by picking Srinivas Yadav, the party wants to give representation to Yadav community, which holds a good hold in Telangana, in the cabinet.

Nageswara Rao, on the other hand, is said to have been rewarded for bringing in a large number of TDP leaders of Khammam district into TRS. KCR, who recently promised a berth for a tribal leader in his cabinet, picked up Chandulal. This, however, did not go well with Lakshmi, who aspired for a berth.

Meanwhile, the choice of three “outsiders” has created discontent among some leaders who have been with the party since inception, sources said. Sources indicated that KCR would also be effecting a minor reshuffle in his cabinet after the induction of six new members. Nayani Narasimha Reddy is likely to be relieved of home ministry and Nageswara Rao is a strong contender for the post. KCR has decided to go for two more posts of Parliamentary Secretary. Apart from Lakshmi, D Vinay Bhaskar has been made the Parliament Secretary.