New Delhi: The Congress is set to sound the poll bugle in Telangana with party leader Rahul Gandhi addressing a public meeting at Khammam on Sunday, news agency PTI reported. Congress State Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, who began his foot march near Adilabad, covering 1,360 km in 108 days, will also conclude his ‘padyatra’ at the Congress rally on Sunday.
Meanwhile, former Khammam MP Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, who had recently announced his decision to join Congress, would be inducted into the party fold at the rally. Srinivas Reddy and ex-minister Jupally Krishna Rao have recently announced their decision to join the Congress.
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president and MP A Revanth Reddy, who took stock of the arrangements for the rally on Friday, said that the meeting would be attended by more people compared to the public meeting organised earlier by ruling BRS in the town.
Eyeing the Telangana assembly elections scheduled to be held later this year, the Congress is leaving no stone unturned to make the Rahul Gandhi rally a huge success. The party is also seeking to ward off the challenge from BJP which is making efforts to emerge as the alternative to ruling BRS.
Congress has been the main opposition party in Telangana since the formation of the state in 2014. However, BJP had won two assembly bypolls and came up with good performance in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections during the last couple of years, posing a threat of occupying the main opposition space held by the Congress.
In a major setback for K Chandrashekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Telangana, 35 party leaders, including former MP Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and former minister Jupally Krishna Rao, joined the Congress earlier this week.
Congress leader Supriya Shrinate said the development was a sign that Congress would form the next government in Telangana.
“A whole host of very senior leaders in Telangana have today joined the Congress party. This is a big boost for us, a sign of how the winds of change have travelled all the way to Telangana. It’s a sign that Congress will form the next government in Telangana,” Shrinate said.