Telangana Congress chief Revanth Reddy will be Chief Minister, to take oath on Dec 7

With this announcement, he has been picked to become the state's next Chief Minister.

The oath ceremony will be held on Thursday, senior Congress leader KC Venugopal said at a press conference.

The decision was taken this evening at a meeting of senior leaders led by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge in the presence of Rahul Gandhi, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and Telangana Congress in-charge Manikrao Thakre.

The announcement put an end to the uncertainty and speculation that spiralled since the party won the Telangana Assembly polls following the counting of votes on Sunday.

Over the last two days, a section of state Congress leaders, aspirants to the top job, have been putting up stiff opposition to his candidature.

At least two possible candidates were in the queue for the post including Dalit leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, and N Uttam Kumar Reddy, a seven-time MLA and ex-Air Force pilot who was the Congress' state chief till Revanth Reddy took over.

Earlier in the day, Uttam Reddy declared that he is in the running for the Chief Minister's post.

Reddy already has the support of 42 of the party's 64 MLAs. But given the slim majority of the Congress, a walkout by even five MLAs could pull down the government.

Reddy, 54, has been credited with leading the Congress to victory in the country's newest state, which has been consistently voting for K Chandrasekhar Rao's Bharat Rashtra Samithi since its formation in 2014.

Reddy joined the Congress from Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party six years ago. Since he was appointed the state unit chief two years ago, he has been leading from the front, increasing the party's visibility and engagement with the voters.