Hyderabad: IT and panchayat raj minister K.T. Rama Rao skipped the second consecutive Cabinet meeting on Friday after it was expanded recently.

It fuelled speculations that he was upset with ministerial ber-ths being given to a few leaders who joined the TRS recently, while denying the same to others who are working sincerely for the party since its inception in 2001.

However, his personal staff claimed that he was out of the city on a personal trip and he could not make it to the Cabinet meeting and there was nothing more to it.

Mr Rao skipped the Cabinet meeting on December 16 that was held immediately after the swearing in ceremony of six new ministers.

He even skipped the ceremony at Raj Bhavan. Though Mr Rama Rao and Deputy CM Mohd. Mahamood Ali arrived in the city after a three-day Dubai trip early on December 16, Mr Ali was present at both Raj Bhavan and Secretariat.

The Cabinet also approved setting up of Christian Bhavan in the city at a cost of `10 crore, exclusively to serve the needs of Christians community in the state.

The cabinet also approved the recent decision of Chief Minister Mr K.Chandrasekhar Rao to revive the posts of Parliament Secretaries, which are the cabinet-rank posts, that were in vogue during late Chief Minister Marri Channa Reddy's tenure in 1978-79. It was decided to bring an Ordinance to restore it.

This decision would enable Mr Rao to appoint few TRS party leaders as Parliament Secretaries, who could not be accomodated in the state cabinet, with the maximum limit fixed at 18 including CM.

Mr Rao has decided to appoint six Parliament Secretaries and already announced the names of four leaders to pacify the disgruntled leaders and check dissidence in the party, who could not find a place in the recent cabinet expansion.

These leaders enjoy the status of deputy ministers and will be allotted various departments along the lines of cabinet ministers.

The cabinet also approved setting up of Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences in Warangal. The government has also decided to give two-day holiday for Christmas on
December 25 and 26.

However, the additional holidays given for Christmas and New Year would be adjusted on second Saturdays of successive months.