‘We will be servants, not rulers’: Revanth removes barricades at CM office, announces first Praja Darbar on Dec 8

Hyderabad: Among the first decisions taken by Revanth Reddy as the first Congress chief minister of Telangana, were to tear down the metal barricades at the CM office in Begumpet and provide employment to a differeny-abled woman; a promise he made to her in the past.

Congress Legislature party leader A Revanth Reddy was sworn in as the chief Minister of Telangana at a glittering ceremony here on Thursday, attended by top Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge.

Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan administered the oath of office and secrecy to Revanth Reddy and the ministers at the LB Stadium.

Besides Revanth Reddy, Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka (the new deputy chief minister), N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, C Damodar Rajanarasimha, D Sridhar Babu, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Ponnam Prabhakar, Konda Surekha, D Anasuya (popularly known as Seethakka), Tummala Nageswara Rao and Jupally Krishna Rao took oath as ministers.

Senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar, and Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu also attended the ceremony.

First decisions as CM

After taking oath as chief minister, Revanth Reddy signed two orders.

One pertains to the implementation of six poll guarantees of Congress and another providing a job to a disabled woman as per a promise made to her by Revanth Reddy in the past.

Revanth Reddy, along with his wife, took the blessings of Sonia Gandhi during the event. Sonia Gandhi hugged Seethakka and Surekha who went to her after taking oath as ministers.

Barricades in front of CM office torn down

Addressing the gathering, Revanth Reddy said the barricades and the iron fence around Pragati Bhavan, the chief minister’s camp office-cum-official residence in Begumpet, were being dismantled while the swearing-in ceremony was in progress.

The CM’s camp office-cum-official residence would be accessible to all henceforth, he said.

Renaming Pragati Bhavan as Jyotirao Phule Praja Bhavan, he said a Praja Darbar would be held at 10 am on December 8.

Alleging that democracy has been a casualty during the past 10 years, even though Congress had formed Telangana to ensure liberty, social justice and equitable development, he said that ‘Indiramma Rajyam’ (the welfare rule of former prime minister Indira Gandhi) heralds liberty, social justice and development for the Telangana people.

He also asserted that the state’s development would compete with the world, and the government would function as ‘servants’ to the people and not as rulers.

Promise to cadre

Reddy also assured that he would take care of the Congress workers who worked hard in the past 10 years.

The state government will do justice to the families of those who sacrificed their lives for the sake of Telangana statehood, as well as the students and unemployed youth, he said.

He urged the gathering of his ministers to thank, on behalf of the Telangana people, the chief ministers and ministers of other states, senior Congress leaders, MPs, and representatives of parties of the INDIA bloc who attended the event.

Earlier, Sonia Gandhi and Revanth Reddy reached the venue in an open-top vehicle, specially decorated with flowers.

Meanwhile, authorities began the process of removing the iron structures put up as fencing in front of the CM’s camp office-cum-official residence at Begumpet here. The AICC leadership had named Revanth Reddy as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) two days ago.

The Congress wrested power from the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) in the recent State Assembly polls by winning 64 out of the total 119 seats in Telangana.

Inputs from PTI