After facing a lot of criticism from all quarters over neglecting women, Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to induct women MLAs in his cabinet.
Not one, but two women MLAs would find a place in the council of ministers of Telangana soon. This was announced by KCR himself on the floor of the state assembly, while participating in the discussion on the state budget on Saturday.
He said he had all the respect for women and it was never his intention to ignore women in any field.
“Very soon, I will induct two women ministers in my cabinet,” he announced.
In his entire earlier term between 2014 and 2018, KCR did not take even a single woman MLA into his cabinet.
It was expected that at least this time, the TRS chief would give representation to at least one woman MLA during the recent expansion of the cabinet.
But he did not do it, causing huge disappointment to women. In fact, there were reports that one of the women MLAs, who attended the swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhavan on February 19 broke down before the media for not seeing any woman minister in the cabinet.
At a conference held at Indian School of Business, KCR’s daughter and Nizamabad MP Kalvakuntla Kavitha indirectly faulted her father for not accommodating even a single woman minister.
“Almost all political parties in the country are neglecting women and TRS is no exception. I am not in a position to influence my father in this regard but I am not happy with the absence of a woman minister in the cabinet,” she said.
May be, Kavitha’s comments have hurt KCR and he made an announcement in the assembly the very next day.
Out of 119 assembly seats, KCR gave the party tickets to only six women, of which three MLAs won their seats.
Padma Devender Reddy, who was Deputy Speaker in the dissolved House, has been re-elected from Medak constituency.
TRS candidate for Khanapur Assembly constituency Rekha Naik a tribal and Gongidi Sunitha Reddy from Alair also retained their seats.
