Chief Minister of Telangana
NAME – Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (KCR)
PROFESSION– Politician and founder- President of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi party(TRS)
BORN – 17th February 1954 (67 years)
PLACE OF BIRTH – Chintamadaka, Medak District, Telangana
FATHER’S NAME – Raghava Rao
MOTHER’S NAME – Venkatamma
SPOUSE – Shobha Rao
SIBLINGS – 10 (1 Brother and 9 Sisters)
CHILDREN – 2 (1 daughter and 1 Son)
EDUCATION– Master of Arts Literature from Osmania University, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh (now in Telangana)
POLITICAL PARTY- Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS)
OTHER POLITICAL AFFILIATION- Youth Congress- 1970, Telugu Desam Party (TDP)- 1983 TO 2001
OFFICIAL WEBSITE– NA
AWARDS–
- Global Agriculture Leadership Award by the Indian Council of Food and Agriculture (ICFA) in 2017
- Business Reformer of the Year by The Economic Times in 2018
Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao is the current CM of Telangana. Mr. Rao was sworn in as the first Chief Minister of Telangana in the year 2014. And he was re-elected in the year 2018. He started his political career in 1970 as a member of the Youth Congress. from Medak district Telangana. In 1983 he joined Telugu Desam Party (TDP). He won four assembly elections from Siddept district. He was minister of Drought and Relief from the year 1987 to 1988.
BACKGROUND – Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), was born to Raghava Rao and Venkatamma on February 17, 1954. He had ten siblings. He is married to Shobha Rao in the year 1969. And has a son Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao (KTR), who is a politician, and his daughter Kalvakuntla Kavitha is a politician and a member of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).
UPBRINGING & EDUCATION– Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) hails from Chintamadaka, Medak District, Telangana. He did his post-graduation in Literature from Osmania University, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh (now in Telangana).
He was Cabinet Minister in the year 1997 to 1999. He was Deputy Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh assembly from 1999 to 2001. In April 2001 he resigned from Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and also from the Deputy Speaker and MLA positions. He founded Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) with an aim to statehood to Telangana.
He won the 2004 elections from Karimnagar Lok Sabha Constituency. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) with an alliance formed with Congress and became the cabinet minister. He resigned from his position in the year 2006 due to issues in the movement of Telangana statehood. Also, the alliance was broken due to differences to support the formation of a new state. He fought and won the Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha elections in the year 2009.
He went into fast-unto-death demanding the creation of Telangana State. After a long turmoil, Telangana was granted statehood. In the 2014 elections, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) with an alliance formed with Telugu Desam Party (TDP) won the assembly elections.
MAJOR INITIATIVES TAKEN– Under his leadership, the state launched the Kalyani Lakshmi scheme to alleviate the financial distress of SC/ST and minority families. The government also launched the Arogya Lakshmi scheme which provides one nutritious meal every day to pregnant and lactating women and children below the age of six years. For farmers, the Rythu Bandhu scheme, under which about 5.8 million land-owning farmers were given ₹ 8,000 per acre every year as farming costs.
CARRIER TIMELINE-
1985 to 1989- Member, Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly
1989 to 1994- Member, Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly
1994 to 1999- Member, Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly
1997 to 2000-Cabinet Minister, Andhra Pradesh
1999 to 2004- Member, Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly
2001- Member, Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly
2014- Member, Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly
2014- Chief Minister of Telangana.
2018-Chief Minister of Telangana.
CONTROVERSIES– One of the controversies was when the Hindu shrine of Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy at Yadadri temple images of Mr. Rao, his party’s election symbol, and his schemes on the temple premises were chiseled on the pillars on all sides of the temple.