Will Revanth Reddy be next Telangana CM? Or is Congress still undecided?

The red carpet was set, the chairs were arranged, and tight security arrangements were made for Monday.

All of effort was in vain, since even two days after its historic win in Telangana, the Congress — being Congress — failed to elect a leader of the Legislature Party who goes on to become Chief Minister.

They were also unable to carry out the scheduled oath ceremony at Raj Bhavan.

Here’s what went wrong.

What’s happening

Throughout the election campaign, Telangana Congress chief Revanth Reddy appeared to be the front-runner. This was all thanks to Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s support that allowed him to become the face and the spokesperson of the campaign.

Thus, it was quite obvious for many to think that he would be the CM.

However, it was not going to be a cakewalk, considering the party’s long history of outspoken leaders and contenders.

The veteran party leaders believe this is the ideal time to remind the Congress high command who are the warhorses.

For those unversed, the Congress had a noteworthy victory with over 64 seats in the 119-member Telangana Assembly. The party ousted the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led BRS, which managed to secure only 39 seats. The BJP and AIMIM won eight each.

Earlier, Karnataka deputy CM DK Shivakumar, who is also credited with delivering Telangana for the Congress, told News18 that the “collective leadership” will decide on the CM.

Infighting over the post

According to a report by NDTV, there have been massive infighting within Telangana Congress considering the chief ministerial post.

Party leaders like Bhatti Vikramarka, Uttam Kumar Reddy, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, Damodar Rajanarasimha are all raising their voices against Revanth Reddy’s candidature.

They claim Reddy advertised that he is the preferred candidate by both – the MLAs and the electorate. They reportedly alleged that he also compromised arrangements to appoint him as CM, while elect others for posts like Deputy CM or ministerial positions.

The leaders also cited Reddy’s political “inexperience” as one of the reasons of their protest.

Well, Reddy is not new to internal attacks.

Earlier, he was accused of getting bribes to become state Congress chief, “selling” tickets during the ticket distribution process.

However, over the years since, Reddy worked hard to gain sufficient members on his side to succeed in his own party. He has over 42 MLAs in his favour, who claim would cause trouble if he wasn’t given the top position.

The suspense continues…

Earlier today, the newly elected MLAs met in Hyderabad to pass a one line resolution that authorises the Congress president to take the decision of electing the leader of the new Congress Legislature.

The report of the CLP meeting that was conducted in Hyderabad yesterday will be presented to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence in Delhi at noon today by AICC in-charge of Telangana Manikrao Thakare and special observer DK Shivakumar. The Telangana Congress MLAs are currently lodged in a Hyderabad hotel, as per News18.

According to Indian Express, the high command is likely to announce its decision today and swearing-in ceremony might take place tomorrow, i.e. Wednesday.

The newspaper quoted its sources as saying that the party high command is thinking about appointing one or two deputy CMs and that Reddy could get the top job.

It also stated that there is a demand for appointing deputy CMs from the marginalised communities like Dalit and backward class community. Notably, senior MLA Bhatti Vikramarka belongs to the Mala (SC) community.

The possible CM

The high command has reportedly arranged meeting with each 64 MLAs in the party to understand the real picture. Since then, there are four names who are in the race to become CM.

Uttam Kumar Reddy, 61, has won seven elections, one as MP from Nalgonda. The former Air Force Pilot, is also close to the Gandhi family. According to NDTV’s source, he is “most qualified” for the chief ministerial post.

Former Congress Legislature Party chief and a three-time MLA Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka has served as deputy speaker and leader of opposition. According to him, he campaigned for the party beyond his constituency during his 1,400-kilometre march earlier this year. For those unversed, the 63-year-old is the brother of Mallu Ravi, who has declared his support for Reddy.

With over 35 years of experience, 58-year-old Komatireddy Venkat Reddy considers himself among the senior most in the party. He has been a former minister, four-time MLA and MP, and delivered 11 of 12 assembly constituencies in his district of erstwhile Nalgonda, as per NDTV.

Damodar Rajanarasimha, 65 from the dominant Madiga Scheduled Caste group, has been a minister in the YS Rajasekhara Reddy cabinet and deputy CM in the Congress government that was led by Kiran Kumar Reddy. He has generations of family history with the Congress.