Telangana Congress prepares to receive Rahul Yatra but some ask, ‘What about Munugode bypoll?’

Sources in the party said senior state leaders such as TPCC president A Revanth Reddy, Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy, and state Congress working president MB Vikramarka had been asked to withdraw from Munugode and join Rahul as soon as he enters Telangana. Several Congress leaders are unhappy about the adverse effect on the chances of the party’s Munugode candidate Palvai Sravanthi Reddy, the daughter of former MLA and ex-Rajya Sabha MP Palvai Govardhan Reddy.

Former minister and ex-Leader of Opposition in the state Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir said elaborate arrangements were being made to ensure the Bharat Jodo Yatra’s “grand success”. Ali addressed a preparatory meeting at the Pitlam Mandal Centre in Kamareddy district on Sunday to discuss the arrangements being made for the yatra in the constituencies of Kamareddy and Jukkal where Rahul Gandhi will be received. Former minister Sudarshan Reddy, former MP Suresh Shetkar, and Kamareddy district Congress Committee president Kailasa Srinivas Rao were among the senior leaders to attend the meeting.

Telangana eagerly awaiting to welcome Rahul ji to it’s soil. https://t.co/MnIkFMIwuo

— Revanth Reddy (@revanth_anumula) October 17, 2022

After the meeting, the Congress leaders inspected the entire route from Pitlam to Deglur on the Maharashtra border. Speaking on the occasion, Shabbir said the yatra, which began on September 7, would cover 69 km in Kamareddy. Shabbir said Rahul Gandhi was using the yatra to raise his voice against the politics of division, rising unemployment, and problems being faced by farmers and other weaker sections of society.

Criticising TRS and BJP

Crediting Congress president Sonia Gandhi for turning the 60-year-old dream of Telangana into a reality, the former minister said the yatra was of significance for Telangana. Though the party lost power in Andhra Pradesh as a result of the bifurcation and could not win elections in Telangana, Sonia Gandhi granted statehood to the state to “stop the youth from committing suicide and to undo the injustices done to the region in the past”, Shabbir added.

The Congress leader said Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao did not play any significant role in the formation of Telangana and alleged that almost half the ministers in the KCR Cabinet were traitors to the Telangana movement. “Despite being in power, the TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi) is unable to get the required funds from the BJP-led Central government. Imagine, what could a two-MP party (TRS) could’ve done in getting statehood for the region. It was only due to Sonia Gandhi ji that Telangana got the statehood status,” he said.

The Congress leader said the Bharat Jodo Yatra would highlight the failures of the TRS government and claimed that the ruling party in the state did not fulfil any major electoral promise and turned a surplus Telangana into a debt-ridden state with bad loans of more than Rs 5 lakh crore.

Shabbir also hit out at the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre for “ruining the country’s economy”. He pointed out India’s slide in the Global Hunger Index and criticised the “wrong economic policies” that had caused the rupee to fall to a record low against the US dollar.