K. Chandrashekar Rao
Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao | |
|---|---|
K.c.R | |
 Official portrait, April 2017
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| 3rd Leader of Opposition in Telangana Assembly | |
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Assumed office 9 December 2023 |
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| Chief Minister | Revanth Reddy |
| Preceded by |
Vacant Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka(2018-19) |
| 1st Chief Minister of Telangana | |
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In office 2 June 2014 – 7 December 2023 |
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| Governor | |
| Deputy |
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| Preceded by |
Office established (Kiran Kumar Reddy as Chief Minister of United Andhra Pradesh) |
| Succeeded by | Anumula Revanth Reddy |
| Member of the Telangana Legislative Assembly | |
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Assumed office 2 June 2014 |
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| Preceded by | Tumkunta Narsa Reddy |
| Constituency | Gajwel |
| President of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi | |
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Assumed office 5 October 2022 |
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| Working President | K. T. Rama Rao |
| Preceded by | Office Established |
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Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (Government of India) | |
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In office 22 May 2004 – 25 May 2004 |
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| Prime Minister | Manmohan Singh |
| Preceded by | Shatrughan Sinha |
| Succeeded by | T. R. Baalu |
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Minister of Labour and Employment (Government of India) | |
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In office 27 November 2004 – 24 August 2006 |
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| Prime Minister | Manmohan Singh |
| Preceded by | Sis Ram Ola |
| Succeeded by | Manmohan Singh |
| 15th Deputy Speaker of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly | |
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In office 1999–2001 |
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| Speaker |
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| Preceded by | N. Mohammed Farook |
| Succeeded by | Koppula Harishwar Reddy |
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Minister of Transport (Government of Andhra Pradesh) | |
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In office 1 September 1995 – 11 October 1999 |
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| Chief Minister | N. Chandrababu Naidu |
| Preceded by | P. Chandrasekhar |
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Minister of Drought and Relief (Government of Andhra Pradesh) | |
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In office 1987–1988 |
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| Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | |
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In office 2009–2014 |
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| Preceded by | D. Vittal Rao |
| Succeeded by | A. P. Jithender Reddy |
| Constituency | Mahbubnagar |
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In office 2004–2009 |
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| Preceded by | C. Vidyasagar Rao |
| Succeeded by | Ponnam Prabhakar |
| Constituency | Karimnagar |
| Member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly | |
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In office 1985–2004 |
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| Preceded by | Ananthula Madan Mohan |
| Succeeded by | T. Harish Rao |
| Constituency | Siddipet |
| President of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi | |
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In office 27 April 2001 – 5 October 2022 |
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| Working President | K. T. Rama Rao (from 15 December 2018) |
| Preceded by | Office Established |
| Succeeded by | Office Abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
17 February 1954 Chintamadaka, Hyderabad State, (present-day Telangana) India |
| Political party | Bharat Rashtra Samithi (Since 2001) |
| Other political affiliations |
Indian National Congress (1980–1983) Telugu Desam Party (1983–2001) |
| Spouse | K. Shobha |
| Children |
K. T. Rama Rao (son) K. Kavitha (daughter) |
| Relatives |
T. Harish Rao (nephew) Joginapally Santosh Kumar (nephew) |
| Residence | Pragathi Bhavan |
| Alma mater | Woodbridge high school |
Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (born 17 February 1954), frequently known by his initials KCR, is an Indian politician currently representing the Gajwel Assembly constituency and serving as the leader of the opposition in the Telangana Legislative Assembly. He is the founder and leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, a state party in India.
Early life
Chandrashekar Rao was born to Raghava Rao and Venkatamma on 17 February 1954 in Chintamadaka village, Hyderabad State (present-day Telangana). His family belongs to the Padmanayaka Velama caste. Rao has nine sisters and one elder brother. He attained a MA degree in Telugu literature from Osmania University, Hyderabad.
Early political career
Congress Party
Rao started his career with the Youth Congress Party in the Medak district, Telangana.
Telugu Desam Party
In 1983, Rao joined the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) but was defeated by A. Madan Mohan in the election. He won four consecutive Assembly elections from Siddipet 1985 and 1999. From 1987 to 1988, he served as the Minister of Drought & Relief in Chief Minister N. T. Rama Rao's cabinet. In 1990, he was appointed TDP convener for Medak, Nizamabad, and Adilabad districts. In 1996, he served as Transport minister in Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu's cabinet. He also served as the deputy speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly from 2000 to 2001.
Jai Telangana movement
On 27 April 2001, Rao resigned as Deputy Speaker, TDP Party as well. He asserted that the people of the Telangana region were being discriminated and believed that a separate state is the only solution. In April 2001, he formed the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Party at Jala Drushyam, Hyderabad to achieve Telangana statehood. In the elections of 2004, Rao won the Siddipet state assembly constituency and also the Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency, both as a TRS candidate. The TRS fought the 2004 general elections in alliance with the Indian National Congress with a Promise of Congress Party to give Telangana State and Rao was one of the five TRS candidates who was returned as MPs.
TRS was part of the United Progressive Alliance coalition government, led by Congress. He went on to become a Union Cabinet minister of Labour and Employment in the United Progressive Alliance government at the centre with his party colleague Aelay Narendra who became minister of Rural Development and Jannu Jakaraiah as chairman for National Minimum Wages Advisory Board. The party later withdrew from the coalition, saying that the Alliance was not minded to support a separate Telangana state. He has resigned as MP in 2006 on a challenge of Congress and won with a huge majority of more than 200,000 votes. Again he resigned as MP in agitation of Telangana movement and won with a minor majority.
In 2009, Rao fought and won the Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha elections. In November 2009, he started a fast-unto-death, demanding the introduction of Telangana Bill in the Indian Parliament. After 11 days of beginning his fast, the Central Government said yes to Telangana as a separate state.
The TRS party fought the general elections as part of the opposition coalition led by TDP. In 2014, Rao was elected as MLA from Gajwel Assembly Constituency of Medak Dist of Telangana State with a majority of 19,218 and as MP from Medak with a majority of 397,029 on 16 May 2014.
In Telangana, the TRS, which led the campaign for a separate State for more than a decade, emerged victorious by winning 11 of the 17 Lok Sabha seats and 63 of the 119 Assembly seats, and emerged as the party with the largest vote share.
Chief Minister of Telangana (2014–2023)
KCR was sworn in as the first chief minister of the Telangana state at 12.57 pm on 2 June 2014. Rao, a staunch believer in astrology, numerology and Vaastu, is reported to have fixed this time for his inauguration as per the advice of priests to suit his lucky number 'six'. Rao was re-elected eight times as TRS president. In September 2018, Rao dissolved the Telangana Legislative Assembly, nine months before its term ends to go for an early election. In December 2018, Rao was re-elected as Chief Minister for the second term, after winning the 2018 Telangana Legislative Assembly election.
KCR shaped the Telangana state to a high degree of development both economically and culturally, right from the formative years of the state since 2014. His welfare programs are aimed at reviving the rural economy and are focused on the development of each community. An intensive household survey, Samagra Kutumba Survey (SKS) was done in a single day on 19 August 2014 across the state to arrive at citizen information for rolling out welfare programs. The data collected pertaining to 94 parameters, covered one crore four lakh households in the State.
KCR had revived the Telangana history, culture and festivals. The native festival Bathukamma, festival of flowers and Shakti was declared as state festival. In 2017, he declared Urdu to be the second official language of Telangana. The government spent Rs. 1200 crore for the expansion of the Yadadri temple.
The Rao government has been described as populist, launching several welfare schemes.
Rao launched the Aarogya Lakshmi scheme on 1 January 2015. He also launched the Double Bedroom Housing scheme, which aims to end slums in Telangana by providing free housing to the poor. The Kalyana Lakshmi - Shaadi Mubarak scheme, providing assistance to newlywed couples, Rythu Bandhu scheme, providing assistance to farmers, and Aasara pension scheme, providing pensions to all senior citizens were also launched by the Rao government. On August 16, 2021, he launched the Dalit Bandu Scheme.
In 2023 elections, he contested from Gajwel and Kamareddy constituencies. He won Gajwel and lost Kamareddy. As his party Bharat Rashtra Samithi was defeated by Indian National Congress led by Revanth Reddy, he submitted his resignation on 3rd December 2023.
National Politics
In May 2019, ahead of the 2019 Indian general election, KCR attempted to set up Federal Front along with leaders of other regional political parties. The Front's aim was to bring a non-Congress, non-BJP alliance to power at the Central Government of India.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi
In June 2022, KCR announced to float a national party Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). On 5 October 2022, at the day of Vijayadashami, KCR renamed his party to Bharat Rashtra Samithi on party's Executive Council Meeting.
Personal life
Rao is married to Shobha and has two children. His son, K. T. Rama Rao is a legislator from Sircilla. He was the cabinet minister for IT, Municipal Administration & Urban Development in Telangana second assembly. His daughter, Kavitha, served as M.P. from Nizamabad and is currently serving as a Member of Legislative Council, Nizamabad. His nephew, Harish Rao, is MLA from Siddipet. He served as Telangana's cabinet minister for finance in second assembly of Telangana. Rao is proficient in Telugu, English, Urdu, and Hindi. He lives with his family at his farm house at Erravelli in Medak district.
In 2015, Rao adopted Pratyusha, who was rescued from domestic violence. She got married in 2020.
Views
Rao is a Gandhian. He has credited Mahatma Gandhi's ideology for inspiring him in his non-violent Telangana movement.
Rao has described Rahul Gandhi as the "biggest buffoon in the country". He has described Narendra Modi as the "most ineffective PM" in Indian history.
Rao is follower of Sri Vaishnavism of Ramanuja, an ardent devotee of his guru Chinna Jeeyar and a strong believer of Hinduism and spirituality. To heighten spiritual consciousness, KCR initiated the reconstruction and renovation of significant temples across Telangana, including Yadadri, Kondagattu, and Vemulawada, among others.
Other work
Rao gave lyrics for the song "Garadi chesthundru" from the film Jai Bolo Telangana (2011), and wrote a song in Kolimi (2015). He also gave lyrics for songs to promote Mission Kakatiya and for his 2018 poll campaign.
Electoral performance
| Year | Contested For | Constituency | Opponent | Votes | Majority | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1983 | MLA | Siddipet | Ananthula Madan Mohan (INC) | 27889–28766 | – 887 | Lost |
| 2 | 1985 | T. Mahender Reddy (INC) | 45215–29059 | 16156 | Won | ||
| 3 | 1989 | Ananthula Madan Mohan (INC) | 53145–39329 | 13816 | Won | ||
| 4 | 1994 | 64645–37538 | 27107 | Won | |||
| 5 | 1999 | Mushinam Swamy Charan (INC) | 69169–41614 | 27555 | Won | ||
| 6 | 2001 By Polls | Mareddy Srinivas Reddy (TDP) | 82632–23920 | 58712 | Won | ||
| 7 | 2004 | Jilla Srinivas (TDP) | 74287–29619 | 44668 | Won | ||
| 8 | 2004 | MP | Karimnagar | Chennamaneni Vidyasagara Rao (BJP) | 451199–320031 | 131168 | Won |
| 9 | 2006 By Polls | T. Jeevan Reddy (INC) | 378030–176448 | 201582 | Won | ||
| 10 | 2008 By Polls | 269452–153687 | 115765 | Won | |||
| 11 | 2009 | Mahabubnagar | Devarakonda Vittal Rao (INC) | 366569–346385 | 20184 | Won | |
| 12 | 2014 | MLA | Gajwel | Pratap Reddy Vanteru (TDP) | 86694–67303 | 19391 | Won |
| 13 | 2014 | MP | Medak | P. Shravan Kumar Reddy (INC) | 657492–260463 | 397029 | Won |
| 14 | 2018 | MLA | Gajwel | Pratap Reddy Vanteru (INC) | 125444–67154 | 58290 | Won |
| 15 | 2023 | MLA | Kamareddy | K Venkata Ramana Reddy (BJP) | 59911-66652 | -6741 | Lost |
| Gajwel | Etela Rajender (BJP) | 111684-66653 | 45031 | Won |
Awards
- Popular Choice Award at CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2014
- Agricultural leadership award 2017
- Economic Times Awards – Business reformer of the year 2018