Ministers appointed as in-charge for districts reviving practice that was ‘dysfunctional’ in BRS rule

The ‘District-in-charge-Ministers’ concept that was dysfunctional in the BRS government will be seriously pursued in this government to see a focussed approach towards governance

The ‘District-in-charge-Ministers’ concept that was dysfunctional in the BRS government will be seriously pursued in this government to see a focussed approach towards governance in each district going by the appointment of in-charge Ministers for districts.

The State government appointed senior Ministers as district-in-charge Ministers, whose first task would be to review and monitor the implementation of “Praja Palana activities” in the respective districts.

The Ministers nominated for different district include N Uttam Kumar Reddy (Karimnagar), Damodar Rajanarasimha (Mahabubnagar), Komatreddy Venkat Reddy (Khammam), Duddilla Sridhar Babu (Ranga Reddy), Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy (Warangal), Ponnam Prabhakar (Hyderabad), Konda Surekha (Medak), D Anasuya Seethakka (Adilabad), Thummala Nageswar Rao (Nalgonda) and Jupally Krishna Rao (Nizamabad).

The concept was quite popular and effective during the previous Congress governments with the Ministers regularly reviewing the development works with the MLAs and officials. They also functioned as a cushion between different groups of the party in the district and satisfying the egos of MLAs or Ministers hailing from those districts.

The district Ministers were seen as neutral persons with regard to development works as politically strong MLAs always tried to take away the major share of funds for their constituencies in their districts. The government is serious about reviving the district in-charge Ministers concept to decentralise the power as well. Apart from the government the in-charge Ministers also strengthened the party as they were the ‘go to persons’ for the party workers and leaders.

The previous government faced criticism for ensuring that power was concentrated with a few individuals and Mr. KCR’s family was always the target of the opposition as well saying that the remaining Ministers were almost defunct with only the family taking all the major decisions. Mr. KCR in his first term appointed the incharge Ministers but seldom they were given power to function. In the second term, the concept was almost defunct though Ministers were appointed for different districts as in-charges.