E-Paper
Will Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao be the kingmaker after Lok Sabha elections 2019?
KCR, as the chief minister is popularly known, single-handedly led the movement for 13 long years for separate Telangana state . The launching of the TRS in April 2001 by KCR, after severing his 18-year old association with the Telugu Desam Party was a watershed in Andhra Pradesh politics.
Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who led his Telangana Rashtra Samithi to power for a second successive term in the December 7 assembly elections, has emerged as one of the key political players of the country in the last 15 years and is expected to play a major role in national politics after the coming Lok Sabha elections.
KCR, as the chief minister is popularly known, single-handedly led the movement for 13 long years for separate Telangana state . The launching of the TRS in April 2001 by KCR, after severing his 18-year old association with the Telugu Desam Party was a watershed in Andhra Pradesh politics.
He spearheaded the movement by galvanizing all sections of people – farmers, students, youth, government employees, industrial workers, lawyers, writers and poets. His fast-unto-death from November 29 to December 9, 2009, triggered a massive agitation all over the region, forcing the then UPA government to announce the commencement of the process for a separate Telangana and finally grant the statehood in June 2014.
After taking over as the first chief minister of Telangana, KCR introduced several welfare schemes aimed at transforming the rural economy and also uplift of the backward communities. Some of his flagship schemes like Mission Kakatiya (restoration of defunct tank irrigation), Mission Bhagiratha (providing piped drinking water supply to every household) and double-bedroom housing, besides welfare schemes such as enhancing pensions and cash assistance to newly-wed couples fetched him tremendous goodwill and brought him back to power for a second term in December 2018.
His scheme of Rythu Bandhu (extending cash assistance of Rs 4,000 per acre to all farmers) is a revolutionary step in agrarian economy and is being replicated in many states. It said to be the inspiration behind the NDA government move to introduce PM-KISAN scheme recently.
A post-graduate in Telugu literature, 65-year old KCR is a big crowd puller and his known for his rabble rousing speeches in typical Telangana slang, attacking the opposition with pungent comments. He has decimated the opposition in the assembly elections and is aiming at winning 16 out of 17 MP seats in Telangana in the coming LS elections.
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