For the last few days, there has been a serious talk over the possibility of Telangana Rashtra Samithi working president and Information Technology minister K T Rama Rao being anointed as the next chief minister of Telangana.
Though KTR himself has denied that such a discussion has no meaning for now, as his father is hale and hearty and would continue as the chief minister for the complete term, his cabinet colleagues have been making statements stating that KTR had all the capabilities of becoming the chief minister.
Starting with Minister for Culture V Srinivas Goud, all the othe ministers like Talasani Srinivasa Yadav, Errabelli Dayakar and Koppula Eshwar have been issuing statements one after the other, supporting KTR as the next chief minister.
On Monday, another minister V Prashant Reddy, a close confidant of KCR, too, made a similar statement that KTR will soon become the chief minister. Since this has come from KCR’s right hand man, it has lent some credibility to the ongoing talk.
Sources said there is a well-laid strategy behind this latest development of ministers speaking in favour of KTR as the next chief minister.
Apparently, KCR himself has told his party leaders that the time has come to hand over the baton to his son and confine himself to an advisory role.
“I have achieved my goal of making Telangana statehood a reality. I have brought the TRS to power twice and ensured that the development has come on right tracks. There is nothing much left for me to do. Here onwards, KTR will take up the responsibility of developing Telangana as an advanced state with his new ideas and dynamic strategies,” KCR reportedly told his party colleagues.
The TRS chief, in all probability, will step down from the chief minister post after the budget session in March; or some time around Dasara festival, party sources said.