Going by the latest talk in the political circles, Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is not going to give up his chief minister post to make way for his son and party working president K T Rama Rao, at least in the near future.
Instead, KCR will continue to remain the chief minister of Telangana, while trying to play a key role at the national level.
Apparently, he has taken a cue from other chief ministers like Naveen Patnaik, Mamata Banerjee and H D Kumaraswamy.
He reportedly told his party colleagues that he had not taken seniors including his son KTR and Harish Rao into the cabinet, only because he wanted to utilise their services to the maximum extent in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. Once the elections are completed, they would be back in the cabinet.
It would mean it is unlikely that KTR will not become the chief minister after the Lok Sabha elections, as was predicted by the party people as well as the media.
He would continue to be the working president and a minister in the cabinet, nothing more than that.
Apparently, KCR took the decision to continue as the chief minister as he realised that there is nothing much he can do at the national level because of the polarisation of parties as pro- and anti-Bharatiya Janata Party; and as such, there is little scope for the emergence of a federal front.
There are clear indications that the BJP-led NDA government might be back to power with a reduced mandate and the TRS with 15-16 MPs would have a greater role to play in the NDA government.
In such a situation, it would be better to secure a Cabinet post for his daughter K Kavitha, rather than he being an ordinary MP or a Union minister.
“He would have greater respect at the Centre as the chief minister of the state rather than a Union minister. So, he decided to stay back in the state,” a source said.