Telangana CLP meet concludes, Congress MLAs authorise Kharge to choose next Chief Minister

HYDERABAD: A day after its victory in the Telangana Assembly polls, the Congress held its

legislature party meeting at a private hotel in Gachibowli to nominate its Chief Ministerial candidate. The meeting on Monday went on for about 20 minutes and concluded with the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president A Revanth Reddy moving a one-line resolution authorising the All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge to choose the CLP leader.

The resolution was seconded by N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Bhatti Vikramarka, Komatireddy Venkata Reddy, Damodar Rajanarsimha, Seethakka, Tummala Nageshwar Rao, Ponnam Prabhakar, D Sreedhar Babu, Prem Sagar Rao, Balu Naik, Konda Surekha among others.

Addressing media after the meeting, party observer and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the authorisation had been sent to Mallikarjun Kharge and the decision would be as per his directions. He said that individual opinions of the MLAs were also taken but they in turn decided to leave the responsibility to the high command.

Shivakumar further said that the CLP thanked the Telangana voters and also the Congress president, Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi apart from all the Congress leaders from across the country for campaigning and guiding the party. The process of oath taking ceremony would take place and the media would be kept informed.

There is speculation that the party high command's decision could be informed by afternoon and the Chief Ministerial nominee could take oath by 8 PM.

The Congress won 64 seats in the 119-member Assembly. A delegation of Congress leaders called on Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan at Raj Bhavan late on Sunday night and staked claim to form the Government.