KTR replaces KCR to chair TRS Parliamentary party meeting

Hyderabad: The TRS Parliamentary Party meeting, held on Friday at Telangana Bhavan, the party’s headquarters here, created a lot of buzz in political circles. Partly because KT Rama Rao — Telangana’s IT and Industries Minister, and TRS’s Working President — chaired the meeting. The meeting was held to finalise the party’s strategy for the upcoming winter session of the Parliament.

Traditionally such meetings are chaired by the party’s president and in this case K Chandrasekhar Rao, who has been chairing these meetings since 2004. However, for the first time, KTR took over the meeting. It triggered speculations that KCR will hand over the mantle to his son KTR not only of the party but also of the government by making him CM.

Interestingly, KCR announced in Legislative Assembly in September during the Budget session that he would remain CM for the next ten years. He added that there was no question of making KTR CM, removing speculations in the political and media circles.

KCR had become CM for the second term in December 2018 after TRS swept Assembly elections with a massive majority. Going by the latest party developments, the TRS supremo is making fast moves to hand over party and state reins and focus more on national politics.

TRS sources say KCR had devised the plan to handover Telangana state reins to KTR and shift his focus to national politics in May this year. The TRS supremo is anticipating that neither BJP nor Congress-led coalitions would secure the majority of their own to form government at the Centre. He believes that regional parties like TRS would play a key role in shaping the government.

To prepare the ground for this, KCR elevated KTR as working president of the party soon after assuming office as CM for the second term. He believed that KTR would increase his hold on the party in the next six months until May 2019, when Lok Sabha results would be announced.

However, all his plans went awry with BJP securing an absolute majority in Lok Sabha polls on the back ‘Modi wave’, which no one anticipated.

KCR later changed his plans, inducted KTR into his cabinet, and allotted latter key portfolios to make him stronger in the government. After which, KTR has been playing a dominant role not only in TRS but also in the Telangana cabinet.

In this backdrop, KCR’ decision to let KTR chair the parliamentary party meeting fuelled speculations that the Telangana CM is again making moves to hand over the mantle to KTR. KCR has been staying away from party activities since December, after elevating his son as TRS’ working president.