K Chandrasekhar Rao hunts for new home

Hyderabad: Just three months after ente-ring the CM’s camp office-cum-residence at Begumpet, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is once again on the look out for a new home. Sources told this newspaper that the Telangana state government is now looking for 2 to 3 acre plot of land in Hyderabad for construction of a new camp office-cum-residence for the CM. “We are looking for a new place for the Telangana CM’s camp office. About 2 to 3 acres is required for the purpose,” a source said.

The government is scouting for land near Hyderabad Public School, Banjara Hills,  Begumpet, Jubilee Hills and other places in the city for the purpose, with focus on public accessibility and security. The source added that there were no plans to renovate the Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) office near the present camp office at a cost of Rs 26 crore. “That is not  true. SIB office may be used  temporarily by the CM to meet visitors, but the government is looking to construct a new office-cum-residence exclusively for the Telangana Chief Minister,” the source.

Mr Rao, whose residence is located in a congested lane in Banjara Hills, had moved into the CM’s camp office at Begumpet on June 23 this year. He had consulted vastu experts and performed pujas before moving in with his family. However some TRS leaders had said in private that it was not a good choice for their leader in view of the fate of his predecessors. Mr Rao had chosen the place after scouting for an office cum residence in Kundanbagh in Begumpet and other places.

The current CM’s camp office had been constructed by former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy in 2004. The 2-acre site, however, has been hit by the vastu bug since day one. YSR’s death in a copter crash on September 2, 2009, while he was living in this sprawling bungalow, did not help maters. The next CM, Mr K. Rosaiah, preferred to stay in his own house at Ameerpet but used the premises for office purposes, receiving dignitaries and visitors. But his tenure was short lived. The next incumbent, Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy, took over the reins of the state in 2010 and used the camp office till he resigned on February 19, 2014, protesting the UPA government’s decision to carve out Telangana. He also quit the Congress.