K Chandrasekhar Rao giving hard time to MLAs as polls continue

Hyderabad: After getting elected in December 2018, TRS legislators seem to be losing their patience from constantly being put to the test by party president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. Following the Assembly elections, the gram panchayat polls were held in January, and Lok Sabha elections in April. The ZPTC and MPTC elections will be held next month. Later in the year are urban local body polls.

For nearly two months, the CM had not constituted the Cabinet and said that he would take the MLAs into the ministry based on their performance in the Lok Sabha elections. Now that the Lok Sabha elections have concluded, the wait is on till May 23 for the outcome to find out how the legislators performed in their constituencies.

There are six vacancies in the Cabinet which is driving the hopeful. In addition to this, Mr Rao will be nominating 15 MLAs as parliamentary secretaries in the Cabinet. To recruit MLAs for these posts, Mr Rao will analyse their performance in the gram panchayat, Lok Sabha and the local bodies  elections.

As per the original schedule, the Assembly elections had to be held along with Lok Sabha polls. However, Mr Rao advanced the Assembly elections by four months. TRS MLAs were hoping for a breather between the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. However, with elections taking place back to back, they have had no time to rest or spend with their families. In addition to this, they're spending a lot of money during elections.

For the ongoing ZPTC and MPTC elections, Mr Chandrasekhar Rao has appointed an in-charge for every district. Those who have been appointed have to look after the financial needs of the ZPTC and MPTC candidates in their districts.

A distressed MLA on condition of anonymity said, “We’re afraid of being in charge, as it implies that we must spend money. We have exhausted our funds during the Assembly elections and are not in a position to spend for the zilla and mandal elections. I’m planning to head off on a vacation with my family to escape this.”

Some MLAs even said that Mr Rao had been assigning targets to be achieved through every election in order to assess their performance. “The party has assured several defected MLAs that they will be given positions. There are about 90 MLAs and nobody knows who among them will end up as Cabinet ministers and who will be made parliamentary secretaries,” said another party MLA.