Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has sacked Health Minister Etala Rajender from his Cabinet over land grabbing allegations and allotted the portfolio to himself.
“On the advice of the Chief Minister of Telangana, the Hon’ble Governor has approved the transfer of the Medical, Health & Family Welfare portfolio from Etala Rajender to the Chief Minister with immediate effect,” said a press communique from Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan’s office.
The Chief Minister had earlier on Friday instructed state’s Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to get an inquiry done into the allegations of and grabbing against Rajender.
This came following complaints by several farmers and landowners against Rajender and his family members with regard to encroachments of lands on the outskirts of Achampet in Masaipet Mandal in the state’s Medak district.
Etala has, however, rubbished the allegations levelled against him and dubbed the reports a pre-planned attack to assassinate his character and malign his reputation.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, Etala welcomed the Chief Minister’s decision to order an investigation.
Rajender, who was appointed the state’s Health Minister in 2019, also demanded a probe led by a sitting judge into the matter.
Rajender, who represents Huzurabad constituency in the Telangana Assembly from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TSR) party, was the Finance Minister of Telangana from 2014–2018.