Who Will be Congress CM? A la Karnataka in Telangana

Hyderabad:

Who will be the Chief Minister from the Congress in Telangana?

As the exit polls gave indications that the Congress will come to power in Telangana, the grand old party is gearing up for the ‘D’ day.

Political analysts feel that the selection of the CM candidate could pose problems for the Congress as there are many aspirants. While TPCC chief Revanth Reddy led the fierce campaign apparently, he too could be a strong aspirant. Similarly, being a senior and loyal CLP leader Bhatti Vikramarka is another aspirant. Among other front runners are N Uttam Kumar Reddy, K Jana Reddy and Komati Reddy Venkat Reddy.

It may be mentioned here that Revanth Reddy and Bhatti said on record that they would abide by whatever the decision the party high command takes. They said they will follow party guidelines.

While stating that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will have to retire and take rest in the farmhouse, Revanth Reddy made it clear that the Congress government would hold a judicial inquiry into the allegations levelled against the BRS during campaign. However, he said, there would be no vindictive politics against any individual.

Another speculation is that Revanth Reddy and Bhatti could be the Siddaramaiah- DK Shivakumar combination in Telangana.

Meanwhile, to avoid any kind of efforts to poach Congress legislators by the BRS, in case of a cliffhanger situation in the state, the TPCC leadership has already asked the candidates to come to Hyderabad soon after the announcement of the results. All the winners would be shifted to Bengaluru and Karnataka Dy CM D K Shivakumar would be monitoring the operation, it is learnt.

If the party secures the magic figure of 60-plus as is being predicted, then party will not have any political challenges to form the government and by Monday morning all top AICC leaders would land in Hyderabad and the process of finalising the CM candidate would begin.

Sources said that Revanth was also preparing a list of his ministers and the officials in case if the high command asks him to take oath as CM on December 9 at the LB Stadium.

The sources said the Congress high command would hold a meeting with all senior leaders in New Delhi before taking a decision on the formation of the government and will also announce the schedule to implement the six guarantees.