Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Gidugu Rudra Raju on September 5 (Tuesday) claimed that party leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra had turned the situation around in favour of the party, and informed that State-wide yatras would be organised on September 7 to mark the first anniversary of the country-wide mass contact programme.
Addressing the media at the party office here, Mr. Rudra Raju said, following instructions from All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge, ‘Jodo Yatras’ would be organised across the 26 districts in the State from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., and the party leaders, working committee members and volunteers from NSUI, Young Congress and Seva Dal would take active part in them.
Mr. Rudra Raju said that for the first time in the country’s political history, Mr. Rahul Gandhi had covered a distance of 4,081 km from Kashmir to Kanyakumari in 136 days and interacted with crores of people to get a first-hand account of their problems.
He alleged that attacks on Dalits, minorities and backward communities were on the rise in the BJP rule at the Centre, and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “silence on Manipur violence.”
He said Mr. Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra had worked wonders for the party’s prospects. Like in Karnakata, the Congress would come to power in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana, he said.
Mr. Rudra Raju said that the INDIA bloc formed by the Congress with the like-minded parties would usher in sweeping changes in the country’s political scenario after dislodging the “communal BJP” from power.
He said the YSR Congress Party, the TDP and the Jana Sena Party were “birds of the same feather.”
Pointing to the Congress Working Committee meeting scheduled to be held in Hyderabad on September 16 and 17, he said the party would prepare its manifesto that would cater to the interests of all sections of people.
‘Will welcome Sharmila if she joins Congress’
Mr. Rudra Raju said that if YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) leader Y.S. Sharmila joined the Congress party, he would welcome it wholeheartedly.
“I will extend my full support to her as PCC president,” he said, emphasising that people would return to the Congress.
Former president of Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangham Venkatarami Reddy and a few of his supporters joined the Congress party in the presence of Mr. Rudra Raju.
Later, as part of Teachers’ Day celebrations, he felicitated retired headmistress of Pottisriramulu Municipal High School at Ramavarappadu village Ganta Visranthamma and retired special grade teacher Sion Kumari.
