Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has already been facing the allegations of running a family rule in the state. His son K T Rama Rao is a minister in the state cabinet holding important portfolios of IT, Industries and Urban Development, while his daughter Kalwakuntla Kavitha is MP of Nizamabad and is nurturing the ambition of entering the Central cabinet.
And his nephew T Harish Rao is already a seasoned politician and had been a minister during the YSR regime and now in KCR cabinet.
But now, there is another relative of KCR, who is likely to enter active politics. He is Joginipalli Santhosh Rao, who is also a nephew of KCR. Right from the beginning, Santosh has been the personal secretary of the TRS chief, but after the party came to power, his clout has increased multi-fold. While continuing to take care of the personal affairs of KCR, Santosh has been elevated as the managing director of T-News channel.
Besides, Santosh is also heading the Ace Media, a production house which looks after the telecasting of all government programmes. There have been allegations that it was Santosh who was the man behind the illegal sand transportation in Karimnagar and Siricilla districts, which led to the recent infamous Nerella incident in which Dalits were tortured.
According to the latest reports, KCR has decided to field Santosh in the by-elections to Vemulawada seat, which is likely to become vacant with the disqualification of sitting MLA Chennamaneni Ramesh following the recent order of the Union home ministry to cancel his Indian citizenship. Though Ramesh said he would go in for an appeal, it might not work out as the home ministry has issued the orders after the Supreme Court direction.
If Santosh is elected, he will be the fifth person to come into the active politics. No wonder, if he is inducted into the cabinet after his election!
