PROFESSIONS, CHECKERED CAREER, AND LESSONS-PART TWELVE (From Librarian to CPRO to CM KCR) ........ A Journey from Khangi School to Center for Excellence : Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

 PROFESSIONS, CHECKERED CAREER, 

AND LESSONS-PART TWELVE

(From Librarian to CPRO to CM KCR)

A Journey from Khangi School to

Center for Excellence

Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

Prefatory Note

(These reflections arise from close observation and lived experience during a defining phase in the history of Telangana. They are offered with deep respect for Kalvakuntla Chandrashekhar Rao, a leader of rare intellectual depth, political courage, and unwavering commitment to the idea of Telangana. What follows is not merely recollection, but an attempt to record how vision, resolve, and governance converged to shape a people’s destiny.

While this narrative draws upon a professional journey that spans eleven organizations and multiple institutional settings, it consciously begins with the final and most consequential phase of that journey. A brief reference to my academic formation is included at the outset only to provide essential context, before the account moves directly into the concluding chapter of my professional life.}

Similarly, KCR’s foray into national politics was not a sudden shift but a structured ideological extension of his long-held conviction that India’s federal structure required meaningful correction. His articulation consistently centered on strengthening States, decentralizing power, and restoring what he described as the true spirit of cooperative federalism. Drawing from constitutional provisions, fiscal relations, and administrative experience, he argued that excessive centralization weakened both governance and development outcomes.

His national outreach emerged from this philosophical base, not merely from electoral arithmetic, and was presented as a reformist national framework rather than a routine political experiment. A recurring theme in his national articulation was the imbalance between the Union and the States in financial control, subject allocation, and policy autonomy. KCR repeatedly questioned why critical sectors such as agriculture, health, education, rural development, and welfare administration should remain under central dominance or concurrent control.

KCR advocated structural rethinking of the Union, State, and Concurrent Lists, proposing a sharper and more rational distribution of responsibilities. His speeches and consultations positioned this not as confrontation but as corrective federal redesign necessary for faster and more context-sensitive governance. The call for a ‘Qualitative Change in Indian politics’ became the central slogan of his national initiative. He argued that post-Independence governance had largely rotated between two national parties with limited structural transformation.

According to his formulation, change should not mean replacement of one ruling party by another but redesign of policy direction, economic leveraging, infrastructure priorities, and social justice frameworks. He spoke of national regeneration through administrative reform, agricultural investment support, water resource optimization, and large-scale infrastructure modernization modeled on global best practices.

From this ideological foundation emerged his proposal for a non-BJP, non-Congress national alternative, often described in early articulation as a Federal Front. His consultations with several regional leaders and policy thinkers were intended to test the viability of a broad-based platform built on development, decentralization, and institutional reform. Importantly, he emphasized that such an initiative should not be a temporary electoral front but a policy-driven national force with a defined growth agenda.

Collective leadership, issue-based alignment, and people-centric development were repeatedly stressed as guiding principles. Another major dimension of this national vision was economic leveraging, using India’s natural resources, water systems, agriculture, and demographic strength more intelligently. KCR frequently cited underutilization of river waters, infrastructure gaps, logistics inefficiencies, and uneven fiscal mechanisms as indicators of systemic failure. His proposals included national water grid thinking, agricultural investment support, permanent finance commission mechanisms, and reform-oriented fiscal strategies.

The argument was that without structural economic redesign, political change alone would not produce meaningful national progress. My association with this phase was more of intellectual rather than professional. While serving as CPRO to the Chief Minister, I had the opportunity to closely observe, document, interpret, and communicate these evolving national positions. In addition to official communication responsibilities, I independently analyzed Centre–State relations and the federal discourse through researched writings.

I wrote a book (Genesis of BRS) released by CM KCR, documenting these developments, which were not merely descriptive but interpretative, placing contemporary events within constitutional, political, and administrative context for future readers and policy observers. The documentation effort aimed to preserve a chronological and thematic record of how a regional movement leader transitioned into a national policy voice advocating federal restructuring and governance reform.

It sought to capture speeches, policy positions, consultations, and ideological arguments in an organized narrative form. My satisfaction lay in ensuring that both supporters and critics, present and future, would have access to a structured account of the ideas, arguments, and intentions behind this national political initiative, beyond day-to-day media interpretations.

The later evolution of TRS into BRS, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, represented the formal political expression of this national ambition. Whether this strategic transformation achieves its intended historic significance will ultimately be judged by time and outcomes. As CPRO to the Chief Minister during a substantial part of this journey, I derive immense satisfaction in having documented this transition and its intellectual foundations carefully and faithfully for future generations as well as for present-day critique, either appreciative or critical.

Governance in India and its states often walks a tightrope between intent and interpretation. The dynamic role of a Chief Minister can turn even well-structured efforts into flashpoints of controversy. Critics seize on these moments, narratives get hijacked, and the true essence of governance is obscured.

As Chief Public Relations Officer to two Highly Knowledgeable Chief Ministers during 1989-90 and 2014-23, who led the first and second phases of Separate Telangana Agitations, I witnessed firsthand, the unseen strain, meticulous preparation, and strategic coordination behind routine looking, but mandatory official tasks, not to mention complex decision-making. Nothing was ever done casually.

Crafting of the Governor Speech delivered on Republic Day, Governor Address to the Joint Session of the Legislature, Budget Speech of Finance Minister, Chief Minister's response to the Motion of Thanks on the Governor’s Address, CM speech on the Appropriation Bill, or Statements made in Legislature, CM Independent Day Speech or State formation day speech etc. requires every sentence to undergo multiple layers of consultation, discussion, legal scrutiny, and data validation. I had the privilege of being part of this intricate process, guided academically, intellectually, and authoritatively at every stage from begin to finish by KCR.

These are not mere political monologues but sincere statements of intent, responsibility, and direction. Yet, public discourse often reduces them to selective sound bites or dismisses them with populist criticism. The deeper tragedy is that the very framework of Legislative Functioning remains largely invisible to the average citizen, and certainly to Fly-by-Night Operators. Well-backed development initiatives, supported by thorough reports and feasibility studies, are labelled as vanity projects or corruption avenues. And that was, is, and would be Democracy.

Alexandre Dumas coined the proverb ‘Nothing Succeeds Like Success,’ implicitly conveying the idea that success breeds further success. Another well-known saying, ‘Failures are the Pillars of Success,’ suggests that failure is life’s greatest teacher and an opportunity to build inner strength. Albert Einstein observed that ‘Failure is success in progress,’ provided one does not give up and continues to fight relentlessly. Similarly, Dale Carnegie professed that ‘Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two stepping stones to success.’

In the Telangana State Assembly elections held in November 2023, the Congress Party led by Anumula Revanth Reddy emerged victorious, while the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, led by Kalvakuntla Chandrashekhar Rao, faced defeat. In many ways, the proverbs cited above seem apt in this context. Revanth Reddy fought relentlessly, never giving up in his pursuit of victory, and ultimately achieved it. On the other hand, KCR’s setback may be viewed not as a final failure but as a ‘Suspended Success’ awaiting the right moment for a strategic comeback. The two impostors: ‘Triumph and Disaster’ offered contrasting yet instructive experiences to both leaders.

KCR, arguably the most successful Chief Minister of Telangana, had himself made an unsuccessful electoral debut in 1983 from the Siddipet Assembly constituency. However, he treated that initial failure as a suspended success and waited patiently for the right opportunity. That opportunity arrived just a year later, when he successfully contested from the same constituency in 1985 and entered the Assembly as a first-time MLA. From that point onward, his political journey became a sustained story of success: truly exemplifying the adage that Nothing Succeeds Like Success.’ 

KCR won consecutively four times from Siddipet between 1985 and 1999 and served in the Cabinets of NT Rama Rao and N Chandrababu Naidu, besides holding the position of Deputy Speaker. Following the formation of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in 2001, his success story continued unabated. In the 2004 elections, he won from the Siddipet Assembly constituency for the fifth time and simultaneously from the Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency. Retaining the MP seat, he became a Union Cabinet Minister in the UPA Government at the Centre. In 2006, KCR resigned as MP, challenged the Congress, and won the by-election, later repeating the feat. In 2009, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Mahbubnagar.

In the 2014 elections, KCR was elected as an MLA from Gajwel and also as an MP from Medak. Under his leadership, the TRS emerged victorious by winning 11 of the 17 Lok Sabha seats and 63 of the 119 Assembly seats. He was sworn in as the first Chief Minister of Telangana on June 2, 2014. In September 2018, he dissolved the Telangana Legislative Assembly, and following a decisive mandate: 88 seats in the elections held in November 2018, he was re-elected as Chief Minister for a second term in December 2018.

Despite unprecedented wealth creation, inclusive prosperity, and what may be described as enabling governance that delivered exceptional growth across sectors, the electorate later favored the Congress Party. KCR thus experienced his second electoral defeat after four decades, losing one of the two seats he contested (Kamareddy), while winning the other (Gajwel). Perhaps, in retrospect, he gave the people more than what they needed, without a sufficiently calibrated scientific need analysis.