TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao today took over as the first Chief Minister of Telangana as the stroke of midnight hour heralded its birth as the 29th state of the Union, ending decades of turbulent existence of the region in Andhra Pradesh.
Turning the clock back 57 years when Telugu-speaking Telangana region of Hyderabad was merged with Andhra State in November 1956, a new state of Telangana came into being, capping numerous struggles for statehood.
It is for the first time since 2000, when three new states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand were carved out of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh during NDA's rule at the Centre that a new state has been created. It is also the first outside the Hindi belt.
60-year-old Rao, who quit the Telugu Desam Party and floated Telangana Rashtra Samiti in 2001 to champion the cause of separate statehood, was sworn in as Chief Minister by Governor E S L Narasimhan. His son K T Rama Rao, nephew T Harish Rao and nine others were also sworn in.
Nine other Cabinet Ministers were sworn in the new state -Mohammed Mahmood Ali, T Rajaiah, Nayani Narasimha Reddy, Eatela Rajender, Pocharam Srinivasa Reddy, T Padma Rao, P Mahender Reddy, Jogu Ramanna and G Jagadish Reddy.
Earlier Narasimhan, who was appointed Governor of both states, was administered the oath of office by Andhra Pradesh High Court Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta.
Soon after taking oath, Rao, popularly called KCR, vowed to root out "political corruption" and establish transparency in governance.
Often dubbed as a "rabble rouser" by his detractors, KCR, who steered his party to triumph in the recently concluded Legislative Assembly elections, winning 63 of the 119 seats in Telangana region, started off on a populist note as he promised to waive farm loans upto Rs one lakh.
"People of Telangana are looking forward to a progressive and development-oriented state. We will work in that direction and ensure a transparent administration," he said addressing the ceremonial parade to mark the Telangana Formation Day at the Parade Grounds in Secunderabad.
"In the next five years, the TRS government will spend Rs one lakh crore for the welfare on SCs, STs, Backward Classes and minorities. Of this, Rs 50,000 crore will be spent on SC welfare alone," he announced.
