Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao, also known as KCR, is the current Telangana Chief Minister and the leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). The BRS was earlier known as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). KCR became the first Chief Minister of Telangana in 2014 and again took oath as the CM in 2018. He has been representing the Gajwel constituency since 2014 in the Telangana Assembly. In 2014, KCR won the seat by defeating Telugu Desam Party's (TDP) Pratap Reddy Vanteru by 19,391 votes. In the 2018 Telangana Assembly Election, KCR retained his constituency by again defeating Pratap Reddy Vanteru with a massive margin of 58,290 votes. Vanteru was a Congress candidate in 2018. Chandrashekhar Rao started his political career with the Congress party and later joined the TDP. He contested the 1983 Andhra Pradesh Assembly Election against Congress leader Ananthula Madan Mohan from Siddipet but lost by just 877 votes. Later, KCR won consecutive elections from Siddipet in 1985, 1989, 1994, 1999 and 2004. He founded the TRS in 2001 and won a bypoll from Siddipet. He served as Andhra Pradesh's Minister of Drought and Relief under Chief Minister NT Rama Rao from 1987 to 1988. He again became the minister in the Chandrababu Naidu Cabinet from 1995 to 1999. KCR also represented Karimnagar (2004 to 2009), Mahabubnagar (2009 to 2014) and Medak (2014) Lok Sabha constituencies. In 2004, Rao defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao from Karimnagar by 1,31,168 votes. In 2006 and 2008, Rao forced bypolls in Karimnagar to create pressure on the Centre for a separate Telangana state. KCR also served as Union Minister of Labour and Employment in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet from 2004 to 2006. In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Rao defeated Congress candidate Devarakonda Vittal Rao by 20,184 votes in Mahabubnagar. In the 2014 polls, Rao won from the Medak seat with a record margin of over 3,97,000 votes. However, he left the seat after he became the Telangana CM in 2014. KCR is contesting from the Kamareddy and Gajwel constituencies in the upcoming Telangana Assembly Election 2023.