Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao(KCR)

Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (born 17 February 1954), abbreviated KCR, is a member of the 15th Lok Sabha of India. He is a Member of Parliament from the Mahaboobnagar constituency of Andhra Pradesh and is the president of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi. He was the cabinet minister for Labour and Employment.

Rao was born on 17 February 1954 in Chintamadaka village, Medak District of Andhra Pradesh. He attained a Masters in Telugu Literature .

Telugu Desam Party

Rao stood for election on several occasions as a candidate of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). He lost his first contest for a seat in the Andhra Pradesh state assembly elections of 1983. Thereafter, he was successful in the similar elections of 1985, 1989, 1994 and 1999. He fought for the Siddipet assembly constituency on all of these occasions.
He served as a state cabinet minister and as Deputy Speaker.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi

Further information: Separate Telangana state movement

Rao resigned from the TDP as he could not get a berth in the state cabinet. He claimed that the politicians of the region were being suppressed and believed that separatism is the only solution. He formed the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to campaign for his separatist agenda.
In the elections of 2004, Rao won the Siddipet state assembly constituency and also the Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency, both as a TRS candidate. The TRS fought the 2004 general elections in alliance with the Indian National Congress and Rao was one of the five TRS candidates who were returned as MPs.^{[citation needed]}
TRS was part of the United Progressive Alliance coalition government, led by Congress. The party later withdrew from the coalition, saying that the Alliance was not minded to support a separate Telangana state. In 2009, when Rao won the Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha constituency for the TRS, the party fought the general elections as part of the opposition coalition


Kalvakuntla Chandrashekhar Rao is married to Shobha and has two children. His son, K. T. Rama Rao, is a legislator; his daughter, Kalvakuntla Kavitha, is an activist. His nephew, Harish Rao, is Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Siddipet constituency.