K Chandrasekhar Rao plans job for one of every two legislators

Hyderabad: TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao plans to provide a job for one of every two legislators by accommodating them in various posts.

In the recent Assembly elections, the TRS won 88 seats and the total went up to 90 with two Independents joining it. Mr Rao can accommodate a maximum of 17 MLAs as ministers in his Cabinet.

Mr Rao plans to appoint 15 Parliamentary secretaries. The state has 33 districts (including two created after the elections) and Mr Rao wants to give representation to all of them. Legislators from the districts cannot induct into the Cabinet, Mr Rao will appoint as parliamentary secretaries.

Keeping in view the past experience when he appointed parliamentary secretaries — the court had ruled against it — Mr Rao wants to enact legislation to prevent a repeat.

The Parliamentary secretaries will not have any powers. Each Parliamentary secretary will be attached to a minister. The secretaries will look after the departments given to the minister.

Under this plan, the Parliamentary secretaries can act as shadow ministers without any power. They can give replies in the Assembly in the absence of the minister.

In this manner, Mr Rao can accommodate 32 legislators in the Cabinet and Parliamentary posts.

Another six will get posts such as Assembly Speaker, Deputy Speaker, government chief whip and whips. Some legislators will be appointed as chairmen of the various Assembly committees.

With this, he would have given posts to half of the TRS legislators.

After the elections, Mr Rao had announced that the corporation chairman posts would be given to party leaders who worked for the TRS victory and not MLAs. 
Despite this, TRS leaders said, there were chances that MLAs would be appointed to head important corporations. Sources said some former MLAs of the previous Assembly who were denied tickets would be made corporation chairman or given MLC seats.