Charismatic KCR to lead 29th state

Hyderabad: He steered the Telangana movement, won over Telangana people, earned the wrath of Seemandhra natives, won elections and is now all set to head the new Telangana state. That sums up TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s 14-year journey as he gets ready to lead the 29th state of Telangana.

Mr Rao will go down in Indian history as one of the most charismatic leader who led a bloodless stir, moulded public opinion in his favour with oratory skills laced with wit, sarcasm and hard-hitting attacks on Seemandhra leaders, at times even people, to achieve Telangana.

Highlighting the injustices done to the Telangana people, Mr Rao formed the TRS with a handful of people in 2011 to spearhead the Telangana movement. Unlike the violent 1969 movement for separate Telangana under M. Channa Reddy’s leadership, which was suppressed, Mr Rao was cautious and preferred a non-violent movement peppered with power politics.

In 1983, he contested against A. Madan Mohan and lost, but subsequently won Siddipet Assembly constituency on TD tickets from 1985 to 1999. Denied a Cabinet berth, he took up the deputy Speaker post, which he threw away and launched the TRS in 2001.

In 2004, in alliance with the Congress, he won Siddipet Assembly seat. He joined the UPA and became Union labour minister, but later withdrew for its failure to back Telangana demand. He resigned in 2006, but won Mahbubnagar MP seat in 2009.
In 2014, KCR went to polls having achieved Telangana.