K Chandrasekhar Rao 66th Birthday: Lesser Known Facts About The Telangana Chief Minister

Hyderabad, February 17: K Chandrasekhar Rao, better known across India with the abbreviation of KCR, was born on this day in the year 1954. His journey in Indian politics stretches to nearly four decades, with him being part of two major political parties of South India. Considered as architect of the separate Telangana, Rao became the first-ever Chief Minister of the state. The position was retained by him after winning the second consecutive assembly polls in 2018. On KCR's 66th birthday, here are some of the lesser known facts about him.

Rao, despite being a staunch contemporary adversary of former Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu, started his political career with him. KCR was a junior to Naidu in the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) -- which was led in those days by Naidu's father-in-law NT Rama Rao.

KCR's admiration for NTR could be gauged by the fact that he named his son KT Rama Rao after the late TDP founder. Even after the baton of TDP was taken over by Naidu, he remained part of the party. Between 1999 to 2001, he had served as Deputy Speaker of the Assembly.

KCR, in 2001, decided to quit the TDP alleging discrimination towards the people of Telangana under the Naidu government. He launched the Telangana Rashtra Samithi as a movement to seek a separate state of Telangana, carved out from the undivided Andhra Pradesh.

In 2004, Rao became part of the Dr Manmohan Singh-led Union Government. The TRS chief was appointed as the Minister of Labour and Employment between 2004 to 2006. He had subsequently resigned to press ahead with his demand for a separate Telangana.

One of the intriguing softer aspects is his admiration for the Urdu language. According to political commentators, he became the first Chief Minister of southern-state - after Marri Channa Reddy - to converse fluently in Urdu or Hindi -- the two most prominent language in North India. Expressing his respect for the Urdu language and its history with Telangana, Rao had once told the Legislative Assembly that he believes Urdu was born in Delhi, nurtured in Lucknow, but "turned young in Deccan". In November 2017, he went on to declare Urdu as the "second official language" of the state.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 17, 2020 08:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).