Hyderabad: Telangana's first cabinet has three members of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's family and no women. Mr KCR was sworn in this morning along with 11 ministers in the presence of enthusiastic workers of his party, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), and several dignitaries. However, Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, tipped to lead the residual Andhra Pradesh, stayed away.
Apart from his son KT Rama Rao and nephew T Harish Rao - the family is from the upper caste Velama community - KCR's ministry has four Reddys, three members of other backward classes or the OBCs, a Muslim and a Dalit.
The inclusion of his son and nephew and what is being seen as a skewed social representation in his ministry has already earned the chief minister of the country's newest state to charges of nepotism. His son, who will be a Cabinet ranked minister said, "Definitely it is a criticism, and we will have to silence them with our performance."
Mr Rao Jr, who is popularly called KTR, also said "Don't judge us too early. The full-fledged strength (of the cabinet) is 18. An expansion will take place and all issues will be addressed."
He informed that Mr Naidu had been invited to attend the swearing in ceremony, but failed to show up. "Definitely there was an invite that went out, but for reasons better known to him Mr Naidu chose not to attend," KTR pointed out.
The chief minister's nephew too will hold a Cabinet rank. The lone Muslim in the ministry, Mohammed Mahmood Ali, and the Dalit face, T Rajaiah are likely to be made deputy chief ministers.
Mr Rao's daughter, K Kavitha, has been elected to the Lok Sabha from the Nizamabad constituency.
Source: NDTV
