Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will sound the poll bugle for the Telangana elections at a massive show in Khammam town, which will witness the culmination of the padayatra of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Bhatti Vikramarka and also welcome the former Khammam MP, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, and his followers.
Mr. Gandhi will arrive at Gannavaram airport in Andhra Pradesh and fly by helicopter to Khammam, according to party sources. He will announce the conclusion of Mr. Vikaramarka’s padayatra that started from Adilabad and later welcome Mr. Srinivas Reddy and how followers into the party. He is likely to target the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) and its alleged growing closeness with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The meeting is going to be a massive show given all the hype created for the entry of Mr. Srinivas Reddy that is being seen as a major boost for the Congress not only in Khammam but also the neighbouring Warangal district. He enjoys mass following in Khammam and many former MLAs presently with the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) are likely to join the Congress along with him. He has also openly declared that the meeting would be far bigger and out-shadow the meeting conducted by the ruling BRS recently.
The public meeting is the first major one after the Congress party’s resounding win in the Karnataka elections and also the first meeting since the perception of Congress resurgence in Telangana has gone down to the village level.
TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy, who inspected the arrangements, accused the government of trying to undemocratically create hurdles for the meeting using the police and other wings, but people were ready to ensure the efforts were futile.
Targeting Minister for Transport Puvvada Ajay, he said that though the party had paid ₹2 crore to hire 1,500 Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) buses for transporting of people to Khammam from across the State, buses were being denied. The party workers will showcase their strength despite the ruling party’s plans, and the Khammam meeting will trigger the exodus from the BRS, he said.
