The stage is set for the swearing in of Anumula Revanth Reddy as the next Chief Minister of Telangana on Thursday, amid a sea of humanity. Mr. Reddy will take oath at 1.04 p.m. instead of 10.28 a.m. fixed earlier at the Lal Bahadur Stadium. Elaborate arrangements are in place for the grand spectacle to be attended by the who’s who of the Congress party.
In a keenly fought election, Congress trounced Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) by winning 64 seats and leaving the ruling party with 39 seats only. The Congress Legislature Party leader himself extended an open invitation to the people, which he termed as ‘People’s Government’s Oath Taking ceremony’.
“Greetings to the people of Telangana. The time has come for the establishment of ‘Indiramma Rajyam’ to fulfil the aspirations of the people through the sacrifice of the martyrs, students’ agitation and the firm determination of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi,” Mr. Reddy said in the invitation. The CLP leader said: “With the blessings of the people to give a transparent administration in a democratic manner, a government that cares for weaker sections, Dalits, Girijans, minorities, farmers, women and youth will be sworn in on Thursday.”
It may be mentioned here that the AICC general secretary K. C. Venugopal had officially named Mr. Revanth Reddy as the CLP leader and announced that he would take oath on December 7. After an elaborate exercise and CLP meeting held in Hyderabad on Monday, the newly elected MLAs had authorised the high command to take a final call. Mr. Revanth Reddy, who left for New Delhi on Tuesday night met AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi and K. C. Venugopal. He held wide ranging discussions with the senior leaders. Mr. Reddy was also closeted with AICC in-charge for Telangana Manik Rao Thakare. He was received by DGP Ravi Gupta and City Police Commissioner Sandeep Shandilya. Mr. Revanth was accompanied by Mr. Thakare, Md. Ali Shabbir and former minister P. Sudarshan Reddy.
All the top Congress leaders including Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled States are expected to attend the swearing in ceremony on Thursday. There was still no clarity on the composition of the State Cabinet.
Meanwhile, a delegation of the TPCC led by working president B. Mahesh Kumar Goud visited Raj Bhavan and met Secretary to Governor K. Surendra Mohan and handed over a list of 64 party MLAs.
