Congress names Revanth Reddy as Telangana CM, says not going to be a one-man show

Reddy will be the first Congress Chief Minister of Telangana, a state which the Congress-led UPA government had carved out in 2014 but had to wait for a decade to come to power since the erstwhile TRS, which led the agitation for bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, reaped the political benefit after its creation.

While the Congress swiftly decided on Revanth for the post of Chief Minister, given the fact that a majority of the newly-elected Congress MLAs had favoured him, deliberations are on to accommodate a clutch of senior leaders – almost all of them his critics – as ministers. Sources in the party said discussions are on for the post of Deputy Chief Minister.

The Congress said it will recognise all senior leaders and underlined “this is not going to be a one-man show”.

Sources said a proposal to make two leaders the Deputy CMs – one each from the Scheduled Caste and Backward Class communities – is on the table.

Revanth has been asked to come to Delhi for deliberations on government formation and for finalisation of the names of ministers who would take oath with him Thursday.

Party leaders said differences have cropped up over the Deputy CM’s post. Senior MLA Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, who belongs to Mala (SC) community, is considered the frontrunner for the post of Deputy CM but the former CLP leader is said to be not in favour of multiple Deputy CMs.

Sources said one of the proposals was to make Bhatti and a leader from the BC community as Deputy CMs. The frontrunner from the BC community is said to be Warangal East MLA and former state minister Konda Surekha.

A final decision on the Deputy CM post would be taken after the central leadership holds talks with Revanth Wednesday.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leaders including Rahul Gandhi are expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony. Gandhi leaves for a week-long visit to some South-East Asian countries Thursday.

Apart from Bhatti, sources said senior leaders like former PCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy could be made ministers.

Uttam and Vikramarka were the other contenders in the CM race. Announcing the party’s decision to anoint Revanth as the new CLP leader, AICC general secretary in-charge of Organisation K C Venugopal said he was a “dynamic leader who campaigned in this election extensively with other senior leaders like Uttam and Bhatti”.

“We have already given a promise to the people of Telangana with the guarantees… We, the AICC, are very sure that the first and foremost priority of this government is to fulfill the aspirations of the people of Telangana and especially the guarantees,” said Venugopal, who was flanked by Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who was one of the central observers at the CLP meeting besides Bhatti, Uttam Kumar Reddy and AICC in-charge of the state Manikrao Thakre.

Asked about the Deputy CMs, Venugopal said, “We will inform you later about the entire details.” On whether senior leaders would be accommodated, he said, “We will recognise all the senior leaders. This is going to be a team. This is not going to be a one-man show. Congress will go with a team.”