Congress big guns in Hyderabad for Revanth Reddy’s swearing-in

Hyderabad: Amid tight security, Congress President Mallikarjuna Kharge, his predecessors Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Bhadra reached Hyderabad on Thursday to attend the swearing-in of Anumula Revanth Reddy as the Chief Minister of Telangana.

The 56-year-old Revanth will take oath in a grand ceremony as the new Chief Minister of Telangana along with his new cabinet at the sprawling LB Stadium here at 1.04 PM on Thursday.Fool-proof arrangements have been made to accommodate one lakh people to witness the event.Telangana Governor Dr Tamilsai Soundararajan will administer the oath of office and secretary to the Chief Minister and his Cabinet at the ceremony.Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who arrived from Bangalore by a special flight, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, AICC State in-charge Manikrao Thakre, and ministers from the neighbouring state would also witness the swearing-in.Earlier, Revanth Reddy received the Gandhi family at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.Revanth Reddy had personally invited the Gandhi family, AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and other AICC leaders during his meeting with them in Delhi on Wednesday.The government has issued 1600 official entry passes for five different coloured pass holders to attend the ceremony.The government has issued 400 gold colour passes g r VVIPs 500 red colour ones with stamps for MLAs’ family members, 100 green colour passes for political dignitaries and 200 blue colour passes for all India services.The Congress wrested power from Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in the November 30 Assembly election, bagging 64 seats in the 119-member House.

According to sources, a list of ministers to be sworn in was submitted to the Governor in the morning.

Senior leaders C. Damodar Rajanarsimha, Uttam Kumar Reddy, Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Sridhar Babu, Anasuya (Seethakka), Ponnam Prabhakar and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy are among 11 newly-elected Congress MLAs in Telangana set to take oath as ministers along with A. Revanth Reddy.

Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, who was the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in the dissolved Assembly, is likely to be appointed as the Deputy chief minister.

Reddy is understood to have personally informed them over phone about their induction in the Cabinet.

The names were decided during a series of meetings Reddy had in New Delhi on Wednesday with Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and other key leaders. UNI KNR SSP