Even as the Telugu Rashtra Samiti joined the United Progressive Alliance government and got two ministerial berths, the regional party made it clear that a Cabinet post was not its priority and stuck to its demand of the formation of a separate Telangana state.
"A Cabinet berth is not our priority. We have joined the government only to move things in the right direction in the formation of our long-demanded state," TRS President K Chandrashekhar Rao said minutes after the swearing-in ceremony.
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KCR was cautiously optimistic about the prospects of carving out a separate Telangana, saying, "these things take time and might take 6 to 8 months to form the new state."
KCR was not the only TRS member to be made a minister. Senior TRS leader A Narendra was sworn in as a minister of state. Narendra was elected to the last Lok Sabha from Medak, as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate. He left the BJP and later joined the TRS.
Both ministers remain tight-lipped about their portfolios, but speculation is rife that KCR will get shipping while Narendra will get urban development.
