Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will begin working from his chamber at the new secretariat at 1:20 pm tomorrow following a formal inauguration of the state-of-the art building on the banks of the iconic Hussain Sagar Lake named after BR Ambedkar.

Rao had been working from his camp office in Begumpet after attending the office in the old secretariat for just a few days after assuming office of the chief minister of the newly-carved out state of Telangana in 2014.

Ahead of the inauguration, the chief minister’s office released an audio-visual clip of the construction of the secretariat measuring about 8.58 lakh square feet in just 26 months with Rao’s voice in the background.

“The Telangana Secretariat has been constructed in an innovative manner keeping in mind the aspirations of the public. As the symbol of the state’s prestige, enhancing the self esteem of the people is a proud moment for everyone in the entire Telangana,” said Chandrasekhar Rao.

He also thanked the labourers, masons, engineers, architects, government staff who worked tirelessly to build the structure.

Soon after the state was carved out, the old secretariat buildings were divided in two sections – one for Andhra Pradesh and another for Telangana – as both state administrations were to function from Hyderabad which would have been the common capital till 2024. Rao stopped coming to the secretariat after a few months which his detractors attributed to bad vaastu. The government soon started looking for an alternate site for an integrated secretariat, even writing to the Defence Ministry for the parade ground.

Meanwhile, after the cash-for-vote controversy, the then chief minister of Andhra Pradesh left Hyderabad and soon government employees shifted to Vijayawada leaving half of the blocks at the Secretariat vacant. However, it was only after YS Jagan Mohan Reddy came to power in 2019 that Rao could get the buildings belonging to AP in hand to fulfill his dream of building a grand new secretariat at a cost of Rs400 crore.

The old rundown buildings, including a heritage one, were razed completely to pave the way for the new integrated grand building. The construction continued as the world struggled with the pandemic and the cost escalated in between, as did criticism.

The BJP’s Telangana unit has been vocal against the Indo-Saracenic architectural style chosen by Rao claiming that it resembled that of a mosque. The BRS social media team hit back with photographs of temples and other old structures with similar domes.

Even yesterday the BJP’s Twitter handle tweeted that the new secretariat building does not reflect the past glory of Telangana and resembles more of a mosque. While the chief minister and state minister KT Rama Rao are expected to take charge tomorrow at their new chambers most of the other ministers will shift on 1 May or thereafter.