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Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee President A Revanth Reddy will take charge as the second Chief Minister of Telangana. Ending two days of speculation, the Congress high command has decided to make him the Chief Minister.
At a brief press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday evening, senior Congress leader K C Venugopal announced the AICC’s decision to make Revanth the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader and the Chief Minister of Telangana.
Flanked by Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and former PCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy, the two key contenders for the top post, he said the swearing-in will take place on December 7.
Refusing to answer any other queries, he said that the team would work together and the contribution of all leaders would be recognised.
Congress troubleshooter and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar conveyed the high command’s decision to the CLP members, who were camping in a city hotel.
Tough contest
It, however, was not an easy task for the high command with the old guard strongly opposing Revanth’s candidature. Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Uttam Kumar Reddy, and Komatireddy Venkata Reddy, who were eyeing the top post, reportedly walked out of the CLP meeting at a city hotel on Monday.
The CLP had passed a unanimous resolution, empowering the AICC President to take a call on who should become the Chief Minister. Sensing the high command’s tilt towards Revanth, the three leaders opposed the move and demanded that they should be considered for the top slot.
Revanth quit the Telugu Desam Party and joined Congress in 2017, seeing no future for the former party in Telangana. Subsequently, he was made the PCC President in 2021 with a mandate to lead the party in the 2023 elections.
The high command deputed its chief troubleshooter Shivakumar and AICC’s in-charge for Telangana Manik Rao Takre to resolve the tangle. They were summoned to New Delhi to discuss the issue on Monday.
The Congress faced an embarrassing situation on Monday when it had to cancel the oath-taking ceremony of its Chief Minister. The Revanth Reddy camp was in a hurry and even made arrangements for the oath-taking at the Raj Bhavan. The government machinery, including the police, quickly made arrangements at the Governor’s office for the brief ceremony scheduled between 8 and 8.15 pm. It, however, had to call off the event because of the deadlock.
The Congress won 64 seats in the 119-seat Assembly, pushing the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to 39 seats.
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