Telangana Chief Minister-elect Anumula Revanth Reddy would take oath as the new CM of the state on Thursday following the party’s victory in the recent Assembly elections.

The swearing-in ceremony of the 56-year-old leader would be held at Hyderanad’s sprawling LB Stadium at 1.04 pm today.

State Chief Secretary A Santhi Kumari, DGP Ravi Gupta held a meeting with senior officials on the arrangements for the swearing-in ceremony and also visited the venue on Wednesday. About one lakh people are expected to attend the event.

Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi and party leader Rahul Gandhi are likely to attend the swearing-in ceremony.

Observing that a ‘people’s government’ would be assuming office on December 7 that will provide a democratic and transparent governance, Revanth Reddy made an open invitation to people to attend the event.

Media reports suggested that Congress MLA-elect and CLP leader in the previous Assembly Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka is likely to take oath as deputy chief minister.

CPI General Secretary D Raja would attend the function as per the invitation of Revanth Reddy, CPI MLA-elect Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao said. CPI is a pre-poll ally of Congress for the recent assembly elections.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his deputy D K Shivakumar are also likely to attend the swearing-in ceremony.

Mr Shivakumar was one of the AICC observers appointed by the party leadership to coordinate the CLP meeting in Hyderabad.

State DGP Ravi Gupta said suitable arrangements have been made for traffic and others so that there is minimum inconvenience to the public.

Some VVIPs attending the event would land at the Rajiv Gandhi International airport on city outskirts, while others would arrive at Begumpet airport and arrangements would be made for their security, he said.

The AICC leadership on Tuesday named Revanth Reddy as the leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) and the next chief minister of Telangana.

The Congress defeated the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) in the recent Assembly polls and won 64 out of the total 119 seats. The party’s pre-poll ally CPI bagged one seat.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

As fighting continued in Gaza’s main southern city, Israel on Thursday said that it was closing in on one of the Hamas founders Yahya Sinwar, who has been called the architect of the October 7 attacks by Israeli officials. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement that Israeli forces had surrounded Sinwar’s house and that it was “only a matter of time until they find him”.

“Last night I said that our forces could go anywhere in the Gaza Strip. They are currently surrounding Sinwar’s house. His home is not his castle, and he can flee, but it is only a matter of time until we find him,” Mr Netanyahu, who has vowed to “crush” Hamas for its October 7 attack that killed over 1,200 Israelis, said.

עדכון ממני אליכם >> pic.twitter.com/gzKsAE8Ekn

— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) December 6, 2023

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sinwar is hiding underground. 

“Sinwar is not above ground; he is underground,” IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said.

“I don’t want to elaborate where and how and what we know in terms of intelligence. This is not the place to talk about such things in the media. Our job is to find Sinwar and kill him,” he added.

Who Is Hamas Founder Yahya Sinwar?

Yahya Sinwar was born in the Khan Younis refugee camp. The 61-year-old was elected as Hamas’ leader in Gaza in 2017.

He rose to prominence as a ruthless enforcer, the head of the Al-Majd security apparatus which tracked, killed, and punished Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel’s secret service before he was jailed.

Sinwar was arrested in 1988 and was sentenced to consecutive life terms accused of planning the abduction and murder of two Israeli soldiers and the murder of four Palestinians.

According to reports, he is leading negotiations for prisoner-hostage swaps and directing military operations along with Deif and another commander, possibly from bunkers beneath Gaza.

ALSO READ | “Track, Hunt, Kill”: How Israel Plans To Destroy Hamas Leaders After War

A senior Israeli security official told reporters recently that Sinwar had wielded influence over talks mediated by Qatar that led to the ceasefire that ended last week after the release of more than 200 Palestinian prisoners by Israel in return for dozens of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Since the war began, the Israeli forces have killed two members of the Hamas ruling politburo and associates of Sinwar.

Our forces continue to operate against Hamas’ leadership in Gaza:

🔴IDF forces eliminated several Hamas commanders and operatives of the Northern Gaza Strip Brigade—the second largest brigade of Hamas—who were hiding in a tunnel located near the Indonesian Hospital during the… pic.twitter.com/mydADVsJaX

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 6, 2023

(With agency inputs)

Anumula Revanth Reddy, President of Telangana Congress, will take oath as the new Chief Minister of Telangana in a grand ceremony at Hyderabad’s LB Stadium today. 

Uttam Kumar Reddy, Sridhar Babu, Ponnam Prabhakar, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, Damodar Rajanarasimha, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Dana Anasuya, Tummala Nageswar Rao, Konda Surekha and Jupally Krishna Rao are the twelve ministers who will take oath along with Revanth Reddy. Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka has been appointed as the Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana and will take oath along with the ministers and the Chief Minister-elect.

Also known as ‘Tiger Revanth’ by his followers, Revanth Reddy took on the tallest leader of Telangana, K Chandrashekar Rao, the leader of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and brought Congress into power for the first time since Telangana was formed in 2014.

Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi are expected to attend the grand oath-taking ceremony of the Chief Minister-elect. About one lakh people are expected to attend the event.

The Congress is celebrating its win in Telangana. Chief Minister-elect Reddy contested from two seats – Kamareddy and Kodangal, in the assembly elections. Mr Reddy was facing KCR on the Kamareddy seat but the heavyweights lost the election to BJP’s Katipally Venkata Ramana Reddy. Revanth Reddy won the Kodangal seat. 

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, party’s General Secretary KC Venugopal and Congress in-charge of Telangana, Manikrao Thakare will attend the ceremony today. Congress chiefs of different states are expected to attend the ceremony.

Former Telangana Chief Minister KCR has been invited too along with Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his deputy DK Shivakumar, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, neighbouring Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu has been invited to the grand event.

Revanth Reddy will sign a file fulfilling poll guarantees in his first order of business after taking charge of the office. The Chief Minister-elect will offer the first job to a 38-year-old woman he had promised.