Hyderabad: Ending a nearly two-month wait, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to expand his cabinet on Tuesday next.
After meeting the state governor ESL Narasimhan on Friday, KCR announced that the new ministers would be sworn in on February 19, at 11.30am, at the Raj Bhavan.
According to an official press release the chief minister chose the day as it was “Magha Shuddha Purnami”, an auspicious day of the lunar calendar.
Officials have been directed to make the necessary arrangements for the ceremony.
It was first time that the state was without a cabinet for almost two months after the results of the state Assembly elections and swearing-in of the chief minister.
In an unusual move the chief minister had inducted only Mohammad Mahmoud Ali in his cabinet and assigned him the Home portfolio.
KCR was running all other departments single-handedly.
The CM’s silence over the Cabinet had not only created a lot of confusion and consternation within the ruling TRS but also became a subject of criticism by opposition leaders.
A Congress leader had even knocked on the doors of High Court seeking direction to the chief minister to form his cabinet immediately as it was a violation of the constitution.
Now attention will be focused on how many faces will find a place in the cabinet and who they will be.
While there was a scope for the induction of 16 ministers in the cabinet, speculation was rife that, in the first phase, KCR will induct only 8 ministers and the remainder would be chosen after the Lok Sabha elections.
