Newsmaker: K C Rao

He has the last laugh, and a state

Thirteen years ago, when Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao, popularly known as KCR, launched the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) with the goal of attaining statehood for the Telangana region, none really believed that Andhra Pradesh would be bisected to create a new state. Not even KCR's son, K T Rama Rao.

This scepticism was reflected in the polls of 2009 when TRS nearly lost its relevance after winning just 10 of the 50 assembly seats it had contested. The victorious Congress chief minister, YS Rajasekhara Reddy, had taunted KCR, saying the people of Telangana had rejected the idea of Telangana as a state.

On June 2, KCR had the last laugh when he was sworn in as the new chief minister of India's 29th state. While the people of Telangana had been agitating for statehood for over five decades, it was KCR who with his oratory created the decisive mood to push for separation. Speaking in a local dialect and interspersing his speeches with humour and anecdotes, the postgraduate in Telugu literature roused the young and old alike.

Born on February 17, 1954, in Chintamadaka village of Medak district, KCR took the plunge into politics when he joined Sanjay Gandhi's Youth Congress in 1975. He shifted to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 1982 soon after the party was launched by Telugu film icon and former chief minister NT Rama Rao (NTR).

He was made transport minister by Chandrababu Naidu, who took over as chief minister from NTR in 1996. After 1999, KCR's relations with Naidu deteriorated when he was made the deputy speaker in the Assembly, belying his expectations of a cabinet berth. Then in 2001, following prolonged deliberations with people committed to the cause of Telangana, KCR quit TDP and launched TRS.

The same year, KCR not only regained his assembly seat in a by-election but also emerged as a major political force in the districts comprising Telangana. TRS forged an alliance with the Congress in the 2004 general elections, in which KCR was elected to the Lok Sabha and became a minister in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government led by the Congress. When UPA appeared non-committal on the Telangana demand, KCR resigned in 2006.

The formation of Telangana itself was a fortuitous development for KCR. The political forces of Andhra Pradesh underwent a realignment when Rajsekhara Reddy died in an air mishap in 2009. The Congress rapidly lost popularity, with the support moving to the former chief minister's son, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who had formed his own YSR Congress Party. When KCR opportunistically declared that he would merge TRS with the Congress if statehood was accorded to Telangana, in a bid to check the erosion in popularity, the Congress Working Committee decided on July 30 last year to create Telangana .

Ultimately, KCR reneged on his promise and neither merged his party nor tied up with the Congress for the 2014 elections. The Congress secured just 21 Assembly seats, while TRS won 63 for a majority in the 119-member House. Now that KCR has got what he wanted, it remains to be seen how he will develop the new state. People in the know say he is not an easy man to work with. Though he has appointed six advisers to guide him, he is not above turning governance into a one-man show. There are also fears of a family rule - both his son, once a sceptic, and his nephew, T Harish Rao, have been inducted into the state Cabinet. His daughter, K Kavita, meanwhile, has been elected to the Lok Sabha.