As preparations are in full swing at Lal Bahadur Stadium the timing for the swearing-in ceremony of A Revanth Reddy as the chief minister of Telangana tomorrow was changed. He will be administered the oath at 1:04 pm by the governor instead of 10:28 am.
The venue was also changed from Raj Bhavan to the stadium last night to accommodate more people, including senior Congress Sonia Gandhi, expected to attend the ceremony of the first Congress chief minister in the state.
Meanwhile, celebrations are going on at the ancestral village of Reddy, Kondareddypalli, in the Nagarkurnool district of the state.
On Wednesday morning, a delegation of the Congress delivered a letter at the governor’s office stating that all the 64 MLAs of the party have elected Revanth Reddy as CLP leader and urged her to make arrangements for the swearing-in ceremony.
Chief Secretary Shanti Kumari and newly-appointed DGP Ravi Gupta inspected the venue and reviewed the arrangements.
The chief minister-designate reached New Delhi last night to meet chairperson of Congress Parliamentary Party Sonia Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and invite them to his swearing-in ceremony.
He also met the Gandhi siblings and invited them to the ceremony. Along with Kharge, Mrs Gandhi may be present at the swearing-in ceremony.
Today, when asked at Parliament if she would be attending the oath-taking ceremony, Mr Gandhi replied, “Probably, yes.”
Soon after the Congress Working Committee’s (CWC) meeting in September in Hyderabad, Mrs Gandhi had proclaimed, “It has been my dream to see a Congress government in Telangana that will work for all sections of the society.”
She had also personally urged the electorate through a video released on the day the campaign ended to vote for Congress.
Today, after Reddy met Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, the latter took to social media to congratulate him. “Under his leadership, the Congress government will fulfill all its Guarantees to the people of Telangana and build a Prajala Sarkar,” said the Congress MP who had cleared Reddy’s ascension to the top post along with Mallikarjun Kharge.
Along with the chief minister, another senior leader from a Dalit community, Bhatti Vikramarka, may take oath as the deputy chief minister. The Cabinet can induct up to 17 ministers including the chief minister and the Congress will like to get it right while maintaining regional and caste balance as well as accommodate senior leaders.