Mallikarjun Kharge authorised to pick Telangana’s next CM

Telangana’s Congress Legislature Party (CLP) on Monday passed a resolution authorising AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge to pick the next chief minister, a day after the Congress won a smashing victory in the assembly polls.

The party, said Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar, would abide by the high command's decision when it comes to appointing the legislature party leader. “We thank the people of the state for allowing us to form our government here…All [of us] have decided that whatever the high command decides, we will go by that,” he said.

Telangana Congress chief A Revanth Reddy, who steered the party to victory with an aggressive campaign, is speculated to be the top contender for the CM post.


Ahead of the CLP meeting, Shivakumar separately met MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, and Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, who had defected from the BJP to join the Congress last month. They are all speculated to be in the race for the chief minister’s post.

In the run-up to the assembly polls on November 30, the Congress had deployed a team of senior leaders from Karnataka to ramp up the campaigning in Telangana, including CM Siddaramaiah and deputy CM DK Shivakumar. The party had announced six guarantees in Telangana, following the pattern of its Karnataka assembly campaign earlier this year, a move which is said to have played a key part in its victory.

The Congress on Sunday ended the BRS’ decade long regime by winning 64 of the 119 seats. The BRS bagged 39 seats, while the BJP managed to wrest nine.