Newsmaker | KCR’s nephew booked in phone tapping case: Who is T Harish Rao?

The seven-time MLA from Siddipet is the nephew of KCR and was one of the faces of the Telangana statehood movement, facing arrest several times. Harish’s most dramatic arrest came in March 2011 during the statehood agitation when he was arrested from a speed boat in the middle of the Hussain Sagar Lake in Hyderabad for his involvement in the “million march” to press for Telangana’s statehood.

After the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (as the BRS was then called) was formed in April 2001, Harish handled party affairs and made his electoral debut from Siddipet in bypolls in 2004, necessitated by KCR’s election to the Lok Sabha from Karimnagar. KCR was then inducted into the Union Cabinet of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Harish has retained the constituency since then. With the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy government coming to power in undivided Andhra Pradesh, Harish was inducted into the state Cabinet.

With the statehood movement picking up steam and a political churn starting, 11 TRS MLAs, among them Harish, resigned from the Assembly over the Manmohan Singh government’s delay in granting Telangana statehood.

As the TRS came to power in the newly formed state in 2014, Harish Rao became a Cabinet Minister, handling important departments such as Irrigation, Marketing, and Legislative Affairs. As Irrigation Minister, he handled the two crucial projects of Kaleswaram dam and Mission Kakatiya. He oversaw the development of the Kaleswaram dam since its inception and was a key component of Mission Kakatiya, KCR’s pet project aimed at repairing and restoring water bodies in Telangana. Despite his responsibilities in the government, he also worked in the backroom to strengthen the party in Telangana.

In and out of favour

Though Harish denied having any beef with his cousins K T Rama Rao (KTR) and K Kavitha, his rising political stature did not sit well with his uncle who wished for a bigger role for his son in the party, according to BRS insiders. KCR dropped both Harish and KTR from the Cabinet in 2018 citing party responsibilities for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. KTR was, however, elevated as the party’s working president.

With internal rumblings over Harish being sidelined growing and the sudden appointment of Tamilsai Soundararajan as the Governor of Telangana in September 2019, which indicated the BJP’s intention to expand in the state, KCR reinducted both KTR and Harish into the Cabinet days after Soundararajan took charge to prevent a faction war breaking out within the party. While KTR retained his earlier portfolios of IT, and Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD), Harish was made Finance Minister. In November 2021, following the ouster of Etala Rajendra (currently Malkajgiri BJP MP) over corruption charges, Harish was given additional charge of the health ministry.

Harish has had his brush with controversies. In 2018, he drew flak for his “I will cut off your tongue” remarks against Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Revuri Prakash Reddy, who claimed that the BRS leader was on his way to the Congress. In 2022, he courted controversy after he alleged that teachers from Telangana were being harassed in Andhra, triggering a barrage of reactions from the YSR Congress Party.

In the run-up to the Telangana Assembly elections last year, Harish found himself in the crosshairs of the Election Commission after his remarks about “publicising the release of money” led to the poll panel withdrawing the permission to disburse financial assistance under the Rythu Bandhu scheme.