K. Chandrashekar Rao

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.

had allliance with BSP

Chandrashekar Rao was born to Raghava Rao and Venkatamma on 17 February 1954 in Chintamadaka village, Hyderabad State (present-day Telangana).

He is of the Velama caste.

Rao has nine sisters and one elder brother.

He attained an MA degree in Telugu literature from Osmania University, Hyderabad.

Rao started his career with the Youth Congress Party in the Medak district, Telangana.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.