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. After heading the Telangana Movement, he was the first Chief Minister of Telangana and held the position for almost 10 years.

Early life

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.

Political career

Congress Party

Rao started his career with the Youth Congress in Medak. He stood by Indira Gandhi after her defeat in the 1977 Lok Sabha polls.

Independent candidate

In the 1983 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly elections, Rao contested as an independent candidate in the Siddipet Assembly constituency. He lost to Ananthula Madan Mohan, a Congress candidate, by 877 votes.

Telugu Desam Party

After the contest, in 1983, Rao joined the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). He won four consecutive Assembly elections from Siddipet (1985-1999). 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.

Jai Telangana movement

On 27 April 2001, Rao resigned from the Telugu Desam Party, leaving his position of Deputy Speaker. He stated that the people of the Telangana region were being discriminated against and believed that a separate state was the only solution. The same day, he formed the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Party (now called the Bharat Rashtra Samithi) at Jala Drushyam, Hyderabad to achieve Telangana statehood. In the 2004 elections, he won from Siddipet and also the Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency by election, both as a TRS candidate. The TRS contested the 2004 general elections in alliance with the Indian National Congress, with a promise from the Congress Party to grant Telangana statehood. Rao was one of the five TRS candidates who were elected as MPs. TRS was part of the United Progressive Alliance coalition government, led by Congress. Rao went on to become a Union Cabinet Minister of Labour and Employment in the UPA government. In 2006, the party withdrew from the coalition, stating that the Alliance was not inclined to support a separate Telangana state, and he resigned as a MP. In 2009, Rao won the Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha elections. In November 2009, he started a hunger strike, demanding the introduction of the Telangana Bill in the Indian Parliament. Eleven days later, the Central Government initiated the process to grant Telangana statehood. On 16 May 2014, Rao was elected as MLA from Gajwel with a majority of 19,391 and as MP from Medak with a majority of 397,029. In Telangana, the TRS, which led the campaign for a separate state for over a decade, received the most votes, winning 11 of the 17 Lok Sabha seats and 63 of the 119 Assembly seats.

Foray into national politics

In May 2019, ahead of the 2019 Indian general election, Rao attempted to set up Federal Front along with leaders of other regional political parties. The Front's aim was to bring a non-Congress, non-BJP alliance to power at the Central Government of India. In June 2022, Rao announced plans for a national party. On 5 October 2022, the day of Vijayadashami, he renamed his party to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) at the party's Executive Council Meeting.

Chief Minister of Telangana (2014–2023)

Rao was sworn in as the first chief minister of the Telangana state on 2 June 2014. Rao, a staunch believer in astrology, numerology and vaastu, is reported to have fixed 12:57 PM for his inauguration as per the advice of priests to suit his lucky number 'six', since the sum of the digits is 'fifteen' and '1+5=6.' He was re-elected eight times as TRS president. In September 2018, he dissolved the Telangana Legislative Assembly, nine months before its term ends to go for an early election. In December 2018, he was re-elected as Chief Minister for the second term, after winning the 2018 Telangana Legislative Assembly election by a big margin. Rao 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. Rao had revived the Telangana history, culture and festivals. The native festival Bathukamma, the festival of flowers and Shakti, was declared as a state festival. In 2017, he declared Urdu to be the second official language of Telangana. The government spent Rs. 1,200 crore for the expansion of the Yadadri temple. The Rao government has been described as populist, launching several welfare schemes. Rao launched the Aarogya Lakshmi scheme on 1 January 2015. He launched multiple welfare schemes, such as the Double Bedroom Housing scheme, which aims to end slums in Telangana by providing free housing to the poor, the Kalyana Lakshmi - Shaadi Mubarak scheme, providing assistance to newlywed couples, the Rythu Bandhu scheme, providing assistance to farmers, and Aasara pension scheme, providing pensions to all senior citizens were also launched by the Rao government. On 16 August 2021, he launched the Dalit Bandu Scheme.

Post chief minister role (2024–present)

In the December 2023 Telangana Legislative elections, he contested from both Gajwel and Kamareddy constituencies. He won from Gajwel by defeating Etela Rajender, a former member of his party, by 45553 votes. In a major face-off, the two major candidates for the post of Chief Minister of Telangana KCR and Revanth Reddy were contesting against each other in the seat of Kamareddy. They both lost to K. V. Ramana Reddy, a member of the BJP. After his defeat to the Indian National Congress, he submitted his resignation on 3 December 2023 and Revanth Reddy formed the new ministry. KCR took on a new role as leader of the opposition in the Telangana Legislative Assembly after his defeat, on 16 December 2023. Rao, who had previously stayed off social media, joined X (Twitter) and Instagram on 27 April 2024, coinciding with his party's 23rd anniversary in an attempt to reach more people. In June 2024, he declined an invitation by Chief Minister to participate in the state celebrations marking 10 years of the formation of the state and chose to participate in his party's celebrations. In the 2024 Indian general elections, his party failed to secure a single seat, despite contesting in all 17 of Telangana's Lok Sabha Constituencies, compared to the 9 seats they won in the previous elections.

Personal life

Rao is married to Shobha and has two children. His son, K. T. Rama Rao is a legislator from Sircilla. He was the cabinet minister for IT, Municipal Administration & Urban Development in Telangana second assembly. His daughter, Kavitha, served as M.P. from Nizamabad and is currently serving as a Member of Legislative Council, Nizamabad. His nephew, Harish Rao, is MLA from Siddipet. He served as Telangana's cabinet minister for finance in second assembly of Telangana. He is proficient in Telugu, English, Urdu, and Hindi. He lives with his family at his farm house at Erravelli in Medak district. In 2015, Rao adopted Pratyusha, who was rescued from domestic violence. She was married in 2020. In December 2023, he suffered a hip fracture after a fall at his farmhouse in Erravelli. He was admitted to Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad for treatment and was discharged after a week.

Positions Held

Views

Rao is a Gandhian. He has credited Gandhism, the teachings and ideas of Mahatma Gandhi, for inspiring him to follow a non-violent approach in his demands during the Telangana movement. Rao has described Rahul Gandhi as the "biggest buffoon in the country". He has described Narendra Modi as the "most ineffective PM" in Indian history. Rao is follower of Sri Vaishnavism of Ramanuja, an ardent devotee of his guru Chinna Jeeyar and a strong believer of Hinduism and spirituality. To heighten spiritual consciousness, KCR initiated the reconstruction and renovation of significant temples across Telangana, including Yadadri, Kondagattu, and Vemulawada, among others.

Other work

Rao gave lyrics for the song "Garadi Chesthundru" from the film Jai Bolo Telangana (2011), and wrote a song in Kolimi (2015). He also gave lyrics for songs to promote Mission Kakatiya and for his 2018 poll campaign.

Electoral performance

Awards