K Chandrasekhar Rao yet to finalise Telangana cabinet posts

Hyderabad: TRS chief and Telangana Chief Minister-in-waiting K. Chandrasekhar Rao is set to finalise his Cabinet on return from New Delhi. Mr Rao went to Delhi to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi. If party sources are to be believed, Mr Rao has almost finalised his Cabinet team, including Deputy Chief Minister Mohd Mahmood Ali.

“I think he has almost finalised the team, but he is holding the cards close to his chest. He has limited time and he will finalise it in next two three days,” a senior party leader told this newspaper.

It is reliably learnt  that the soft spoken Mr Mohd Mahmood Ali, MLC, is tipped to be-come Deputy Chief Minister as promised, while either  Ajmera Chandulal, who won Mulug ST constituency or Pocharam Srinivas Reddy (Banswada) is likely to be the Speaker.

Party circles say Mr Srinivas Reddy is not keen on becoming the Speaker as he prefers a ministerial berth.

With just six days to go for Mr Rao to be sworn-in as the first Chief  Minister of the new Telangana State on June 2, he has to finalise his Cabinet as also CMO staff apart from other key posts in the government.

If sources are to be believed, he will have 15 member team and expand the Cabinet later.

T. Harish Rao, Etela Rajender, K.T. Rama Rao, Nayani Narasimha Reddy are likely to get key portfolios while others tipped for Cabinet berths include Jupally Krishna Rao, Jagadish Reddy, Koppula Eshwar, Jalagam Venkat Rao, Konda Surekha, Padma Devender Reddy, P. Mahender Reddy, T. Padma Rao, Swami Goud, Madhusudhana Chary, T. Rajaiah, Laxma Reddy, Jogu Ramanna, Gampa Goverdhan.