T'gana CM: It's DK's turn to play mediator

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Hyderabad: After the Karnataka Congress played a pivotal role in the party’s victory in the Telangana Assembly elections, Deputy CM DK Shivakumar is said to be playing a consultative role in the naming of a CM in the neighbouring state.

A meeting of the newly-elected Congress MLAs in Telangana on Monday resolved to authorise AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge to appoint the leader of the Congress Legislature Party.

"All members of the Congress' newly-elected (legsislature) party unanimously resolved to authorise AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge to appoint a Congress Legislative Party leader," Shivakumar told reporters after a meeting of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP).

The authorisation will be sent to Kharge and the MLAs decided to go by the decision of the party's top leadership, said Shivakumar, one of the AICC observers appointed to coordinate the CLP meetings.

A Revanth Reddy, the Congress' state unit chief, moved the resolution and it was seconded by senior MLAs, including Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and D Sridhar Babu, he said.

Congress sources, meanwhile, said the party mulled the idea of organising the swearingin ceremony of the chief minister on Monday itself but it could not happen as the meetings got delayed.

It may happen in a couple of days as Tuesday is not an auspicious day, they claimed. Discussions are underway on finalising the Cabinet, the sources added.