In a swift and surprise development, Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to expand his council of ministers on Sunday evening.
An official release from the chief minister’s office said KCR had decided to expand the cabinet at 4 pm on Sunday, which happens to be Dasami as per Telugu almanac, which is an auspicious muhurtam.
Interestingly, Tamilisai Soundararajan is going to be sworn in as new Governor of Telangana in the morning. So, within hours, she will be administering oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers.
KCR has instructed Chief Secretary S K Joshi to make arrangements at Raj Bhavan for the swearing in of the new ministers. The chief minister also informed the Governor-designate about the cabinet expansion.
It is not exactly known how many ministers would be inducted into the cabinet in this third phase of expansion.
However, he dashed the hopes of at least two MLAs – Rega Kantha Rao from Pinapaka and Gongidi Sunitha from Alair, who he had called to Pragati Bhavan in the evening. While they were expecting the cabinet berths, he appointed them as party whips in the state assembly.
While Warangal MLA Dasyam Vinaya Bhaskar was appointed as the Chief Whip, Gongadi Sunitha, Gampa Goverdhan, Guvvala Balraju, Arekapudi Gandhi, Rega Kantha Rao and Balka Suman were appointed as whips.
In Legislative council, B Venkateshwarlu was appointed as the Chief Whip and K. Damodhar Reddy, M S Prabhakar Rao, T Bhanu Prasad Rao and Karne Prabhakar would act as whips.
