TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao, who led his party to a massive victory in the December 7 assembly elections, was sworn-in Thursday as the chief minister of Telangana for a second straight term.
KCR, as Rao is popularly known, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor E S L Narasimhan at a simple ceremony on the lawns of Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad.
Along with Rao, party MLC Mohammed Mehmood Ali, who was deputy chief minister in the previous TRS government, took oath as a minister.
The Cabinet is likely to be expanded on December 18.
Rao was unanimously elected leader of the TRS Legislature Party by the newly-elected MLAs Wednesday.
In the December 7 elections, the TRS won 88 seats in the 119-member assembly, trumping the Congress-led ‘Praja Kutami’, which ended up with a tally of 21. Asaduddin Owaisi’s party and TRS ally AIMIM won 7 seats. The BJP won just one seat in the state.
Earlier in Wednesday, the caretaker Council of Ministers led by Rao tendered resignation to Governor ESL Narasimhan.
The Governor requested Rao to continue in office till the formation of a new government, according to a government order issued by the Chief Secretary.
In September 2018, KCR had dissolved the Assembly eight months ahead of schedule. The party had in the first Telangana elections won 63 of the 119 seats, though its strength rose to 90 later after TDP and Congress leaders defected ahead of the elections.
(With PTI inputs)