Telangana CM Swearing-In Ceremony Live Updates: CM Revanth Reddy, deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka take oath amid INDIA show of strength in Hyderabad

Anumula Revanth Reddy was on Thursday sworn in as the chief minister of Telangana, marking a historic moment as the first Congress CM of the youngest state in India. Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu also took the oath as the deputy CM of the state, established in 2014.

Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan administers him the oath of office.

Reddy conveyed his heartfelt appreciation to fellow party leaders and supporters for their 'unwavering support' and acknowledged the affection of his loyalists, who stood by him through 'every challenge and triumph'.

Reddy led his party to victory over the incumbent Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) in the recent Assembly polls where the the Congress won 64 seats out of 119 as against the BRS's 39.

Ahead of the grand swearing-in ceremony of Telangana's new Chief Minister, Revanth Reddy, Congress leaders on Thursday expressed their excitement and said that this will be a new chapter in the history of Telangana.

DK Shivakumar says, "We will implement the guarantees. We are committed to whatever we have spoken."

He has also invited Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, Ashok Chavan, Digvijays Singh, Veerappa Moily, Manickam Tagore, P Chidambaram, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Meera Kumari and other Congress leaders.

In an open letter to people, he invited them to the swearing-in scheduled at LB Stadium at 1:04 pm. The Congress leader wrote that the time has come for Indiramma Rajyam in Telangana "which was created with the struggle by students, sacrifices of martyrs and the iron will of Sonia Gandhi"

While there was a clear urban and rural divide in the voting pattern in the assembly polls, another major challenge for Congress is to cut ice with urban voters and residents of Hyderabad.

Congress had unveiled a job calendar, specifying dates for issuingnotifications to fill these vacancies. The party said it was committed to filling two lakh existing vacancies within one year,with job notifications scheduled to be issued from February1, 2024, and to be completed byDecember 15 next year. Another huge challengeis the much-awaited revampof the Telangana State PublicService Commission (TSPSC),which has been rocked by question paper leaks.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said less than 24 hours after the election results were out on December 3, his party was being criticised in the media by all and sundry for a "so-called delay" in appointing a chief minister for Telangana. "Well, our CM was announced a day before and is taking over at 1 pm today," he said referring to A Revanth Reddy being named as the chief minister of Telangana. But three days have gone by and the BJP has been unable to even announce its chief ministers for Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, he said.

Posters of Anumula Revanth Reddy was plastered across Hyderabad city on Thursday ahead of him taking oath as chief minister of Telangana, after the Congress party emerged victorious in the Telangana Assembly polls.

"Congress's win in Telangana is a victory of the party's policies. It is a victory of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Kharge ji. It's a victory of the struggle by Revanth Reddy. I have full faith that this will be a new chapter in the history of Telangana," he said.