Today saw the swearing-in of Anumula Revanth Reddy as the second president Minister of the state. Revanth Reddy is the president of the Telangana Congress and was instrumental in the party’s resounding victory in the Assembly polls on November 30.
Amid a about one-lakh-strong audience at Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium in Hyderabad, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan administered the oath of office to Mr. Reddy.
Eleven members of Mr. Reddy’s cabinet also took the oath of office. Those who challenged Revanth Reddy’s selection for chief minister included Mallu Bhatti Vikaramarka, who took the oath of office as deputy chief minister, and N Uttam Kumar Reddy, the previous head of the Telangana Congress. Sridhar Babu, Ponnam Prabhakar, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Damodar Rajanarasimha, Dana Anasuya, Tummala Nageswar Rao, Konda Surekha, and Jupally Krishna Rao are the other eight members of the government.
The Gandhi family—Sonia, Rahul, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra—as well as Congressman Mallikarjun Kharge, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar attended the event.
In addition to congratulating Mr. Reddy on the milestone, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged his unwavering support for Telangana’s advancement.
Mr. Reddy and Mrs. Gandhi drove an open car around the stadium and completed a victory lap before he took the oath of office.
With 65 out of 119 Assembly seats, the Congress easily defeated the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, led by K Chandrashekar Rao, which has ruled Telangana since the party’s founding in 2014.
One of the main contributors to the Congress victory has been identified as Revanth Reddy, also known by his fans as Tiger Revanth. In 2017, Mr. Reddy, a former TDP leader, joined the Congress. He was named president of the Telangana Congress in 2021.
Mr. Reddy spearheaded a vigorous campaign against the KCR-led government over the previous two years, organizing public demonstrations and street protests on a variety of topics. The party defeated the BRS as a result of the Congress’s successful efforts.
But Mr. Reddy had a task in store for him. His opponents in the party challenged his appointment as Chief Minister shortly after the victory. They claimed that he had accepted money in exchange for voting tickets and cited charges of corruption against him.
Mr. Reddy put in a lot of effort to secure the tickets of his loyalists, well aware that he would not be appointed Chief Minister without the backing of a sizable number of MLAs. This suited him well, and the Congress leadership, not wishing to upend the status quo, supported Mr. Reddy’s candidacy for the top position.
Now that he is the Chief Minister, Mr. Reddy must fulfill the poll promises made by the Congress and have everything ready for the Lok Sabha elections, which are in six months.
