Hyderabad: Even before Revanth Reddy took oath as the first Congress CM of Telangana, bulldozers had lined up outside Pragathi Bhavan, the official residence of the CM last week. The machines started bringing down the large iron gates and barricades that extended onto the main road at Begumpet, in the heart of Hyderabad.
This was the first symbolic gesture of many that Revanth had signed off on to show that his would be a people-friendly government even as he, his deputy Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, and 10 other ministers took the oath of office in front of a crowd of thousands at L B Stadium.
Top Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, AICC chief Mallikarjuna Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, the CMs of Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh, Siddaramaiah and Sukhvinder Sukku, respectively, Karnataka deputy CM D K Shivakumar and other VIPs attended the swearing-in. Minutes after Revanth took oath, chief secretary Santhi Kumari presented him with the file clearing the six guarantees that Congress had promised during its election campaign, which he signed amid loud cheers from the crowd. The first cabinet meeting was held in the evening in which the guarantees file was given the stamp of approval.
The second file cleared related to giving a job to physically challenged T Rajani, whom Revanth had promised a government job when she had met him a few weeks ago. She was given a job as a project manager in the Telangana State Seed and Organic Certification Agency.