The district has ultimately got representation in the State Cabinet with the induction of Tummala Nageswara Rao, a four-time MLA, who served as Cabinet Minister thrice in the successive TDP governments in the past.
The TRS leadership has admitted Mr. Rao into the party in a strategic manner to make it a force to reckon with in Khammam district. However, induction of Mr. Rao, setting aside the lone elected party MLA from the district Jalagam Venkat Rao, who is representing the prestigious Kothagudem Assembly constituency, is set to acquire new political dimensions in the ruling party in the district. Mr. Venkat Rao and Mr. Nageswara Rao contested against each other in Sattupallli and Khammam Assembly constituencies in the past.
Mr. Rao had parted ways with the TDP, ending his over three-decade-old association with the party, and joined the ruling TRS in September this year. He began his political career in early 1980s and won from Sattupalli Assembly constituency on the TDP ticket for the first time in 1985. He won from the same Assembly constituency twice in 1994 and 1999. He served as Minor Irrigation Minister in N.T. Rama Rao’s Cabinet. He held important portfolios - Prohibition & Excise, Major Irrigation, and Roads & Buildings during his stint as Minister twice in Chandrababu Naidu’s successive governments in the undivided Andhra Pradesh in the past.
He represented Khammam Assembly constituency from 2009-2014. However, he lost the seat to the Congress candidate P. Ajay Kumar in the general elections-2014. His supporters attributed his defeat to group rivalries in the TDP.
