Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who completed his cabinet formation totally by inducting six ministers on Sunday, retained the major irrigation portfolio with himself, apparently to ensure that he gets all the credit for the mega irrigation projects like Kaleshwaram and Palamur-Ranga Reddy.
KCR’s nephew T Harish Rao, who held the irrigation portfolio between 2014 and 2018 and was instrumental in executing Kaleshwaram project and also Mission Kakatiya, is now back in the cabinet after a gap of nine months. He has now been entrusted with the portfolio of Finance.
He will be reading out his first budget speech in the assembly on Monday, when the monsoon session will begin to approve the full-fledged budget.
However, the chief minister returned the same old portfolio of Information Technology, Municipal Adminstration and Industries to his son K T Rama Rao, who held the same during his first tenure of the TRS government.
While Sabita Indra Reddy, who was minister for mines and geology in the Y S Rajasekhar Reddy cabinet between 2004 and 2009 and first woman home minister of combined Andhra Pradesh between 2009 and 2014, has now been given higher education portfolio.
Hitherto, the higher education portfolio was with G Jagadeesh Reddy, who allegedly bungled in the declaration of Intermediate examination results properly. He has now been shifted to power.
The portfolios of other ministers are: Satyavathi Rathod: Women, child and tribal welfare, Gangula Kamalakar: BC welfare and civil supplies and Puvvada Ajay: Transport.
