Chandrasekhar Rao re-elected TRS President

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was today re-elected as the president of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), the party he formed in 2001.
Rao's unanimous re-election was announced just ahead of the party's 16th plenary held at Kompalli on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The tenure of the president is for two years.
State Cabinet ministers, MLAs, MLCs and other leaders submitted nominations in favour of Rao during the election process this month for the post, Home Minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy told reporters at the TRS headquarters here.
"Twelve sets of nominations were received. There was only one name, of KCR, in all the 12 sets. Our leader KCR's name was proposed unanimously," said Reddy, who was the election officer.

Rao, who was the deputy speaker of the then undivided Andhra Pradesh assembly when N Chandrababu Naidu was the chief minister, had quit the TDP and formed the TRS in Hyderabad in 2001 to fight for a separate Telangana state.
Riding on a wave of support in the 2014 assembly elections, Rao became the first chief minister of Telangana which came into existence on June 2, 2014.

The TRS would organise a public meeting on April 27 in Warangal.
Speaking at the plenary, Rao moved a resolution urging the Centre to link the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) with agriculture. The resolution was endorsed by those attending the convention.

"Today workers are not available for farming. The NREGA scheme, though it helped the poor to some extent, is causing some inconvenience. Farmers are facing trouble during agricultural season because of NREGA," he said.
Rao said he would raise the issue in the NITI Ayog meeting, to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in New Delhi on April 23.
On the occasion, Rao announced a new scheme where the state government would give Rs 4,000 per acre to farmers during the kharif and the rabi seasons.
Noting that 97 per cent of the farmers hold less than 10 acres of land, he said the scheme would be extended to all cultivators. The government would organise farmers into 'societies' at village, mandal and state level for the purpose.

The state-level farmers' federation would be provided with seed capital of Rs 500 crore in the next budget, he said adding the government would convene a assembly session soon to pass a bill to check the spread of spurious seeds.
Noting that the TRS government is functioning with the transparency as seen in increase in revenue from sale of sand, Rao said opposition leaders should desist from making false allegations against his administration.
"We are fighting against corruption. I appeal to the ministers to file cases if allegations are made against any department and put the onus on them (opposition parties) to prove the charges," he said.