Telangana CM again expands cabinet, inducts son, nephew

Hyderabad, Sep 8 (IANS) Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao on Sunday expanded his cabinet with the induction of six ministers including his son K.T. Rama Rao and nephew T. Harish Rao.

The new ministers were administered oath of office and secrecy by Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan at a ceremony held at the Raj Bhavan at 4.14 p.m.

The four other minister who took oath are P. Sabita Indra Reddy, Gangula Kamalakar, Puvvada Ajay and Satyavati Rathod.

Chief Minister Chandrashekhar Rao, his ministers, leaders of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), MPs, state legislators and senior officials attended the ceremony.

Interestingly, Soundararajan administered oath to new ministers a few hours after she was sworn in as the Governor.

Chandrasekhar Rao, who had no woman minister in his cabinet during the first term, inducted two women - Sabita Indra Reddy and Satyavati Rathod.

Three of the newly-inducted ministers had earlier served as ministers.

K.T. Rama Rao and Harish Rao were in the cabinet during the TRS' first term in power.

Sabitha was one of the 12 Congress MLAs who had defected to the TRS after the latter retained power. She had earlier served as minister in undivided Andhra Pradesh.

This is the second expansion in the state cabinet since the TRS swept back to power in the elections held in December last year.

With this expansion, the strength of the cabinet has gone up to 18, the maximum permitted by the rules.

Chandrasekhar Rao had taken oath as the Chief Minister for the second term on December 13. Home Minister Mehmood Ali also took oath with him.

KCR expanded his cabinet on February 19 by inducting 10 ministers.