Telangana to get its own 'foreign ministry'

HYDERABAD: Telangana is poised to get an 'external affairs' ministry with chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao set to make his son K Taraka Rama Rao the first ' foreign minister' of the state, top officials said.

Foreign relations have been the exclusive preserve of the Union government till now. “The state government is planning to formulate its own NRI policy, the highlight of which is a proposal to establish a separate ministry for promoting Telangana offshore. And it is but natural that the mantle falls on KTR, who is now in-charge of NRI affairs,“ said a highly placed source.

Officials in the general administration department said the announcement is expected in a couple of days. The new ministry will add to the portfolios of KTR, who has the highest number of ministries, including plum portfolios like information technology (IT), industries & commerce, municipal administration and urban development (MA&UD). “It is a long pending demand from Telangana diaspora across the world that the state must have a dedicated ministry for foreign and NRI affairs. The ministry will promote Telangana as an investment destination and market it the best among the industrialised states in India. And KTR is best suited for the purpose,“ said Boora Narasaiah Goud, Bhuvanagiri MP, who was part of many delegations visiting foreign countries in the past two years. KTR on Friday said in a meeting with a group of new recruits to Gulf countries that the government plans to implement a new NRI policy .

“The draft of the NRI policy is ready and a meeting will be called on July 16 before finalising it,“ he said. A GAD official said the idea was borrowed from Kerala where a minister has been given a responsibility of looking after welfare of migrants from the state settled in foreign countries.

“No state except Kerala and Punjab has a government wing to deal with issues related to migrants. We studied both models and formulated own policy to be the most advanced,“ said the official. We are going to have a separate ministry which would work as an external affairs ministry for the state, in coordination with the foreign ministry of India,“ said the official.The ministry for NRI affairs is going have a secretariat.