Telangana Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka’s ongoing statewide padyatra will mark its 100 days Friday, covering 1200 kilometres so far. The MLA from the Madhira Assembly constituency in Khammam district, Vikramarka, 62, began his foot march on March 16 from Pipri village in Adilabad district in the wake of Rahul Gandhi’s cross-country Bharat Jodo Yatra, which had concluded in January. అమరుల ఆశయాలు. ప్రజల ఆకాంక్షలు నిరవేర్చడానికి మొదలు పెట్టిన ఈ సమరానికి 100 రోజులు. #peoplesmarch100days pic.twitter.com/Ml1FXzS8n2 — Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu (@BhattiCLP) June 23, 2023 Vikramarka embarked on his padyatra as part of the Congress’s “Haath Se Haath Jodo” campaign, renaming it later as “People’s March”. He has already traversed about 15 districts, 33 Assembly constituencies and 800 villages along the way. His proposed 1500-km yatra is likely to conclude by the end of August. The Telangana Assembly election is due in December this year. Its victory in neighbouring Karnataka seems to have energised the Congress in Telangana. Clawing back from its dismal performance in the 2018 state Assembly polls, the Congress has started to aggressively take on the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), headed by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao or KCR, with the grand old party’s leaders expressing confidence about winning the upcoming polls. The Congress had won 21 out of Telangana’s total 119 Assembly seats in the 2018 polls, becoming the principal Opposition in the state, while the BJP won just 1 seat. However, over the last few years the BJP has managed to project itself as the primary challenger to the BRS with the Congress largely remaining on the sidelines. On his part, Vikramarka, commenting on his march, said Thursday, “It is very hot during the day but I have a job to do and that is to meet as many people as I can. There is excitement in the Congress party after our success in Karnataka. We have vowed to make Telangana KCR-mukt and neither the hot sun nor rains can dampen our spirits.” Alleging that people were “fed up with BRS and KCR’s autocratic rule”, the CLP leader said during his march many people met him and “narrated their woes”. “BRS has abandoned some of the marginalised sections,’’ he charged. Several senior central and state Congress leaders joined Vikramarka’s padyatra and walked along with him. Two large public meetings were held as part of the yatra. While Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was the chief guest at its first major public meeting, held on April 14 at Mancherial, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu attended the second one held at Jadcherla on May 24. In the course of his yatra, Vikramarka has sought to make an outreach to tribals, Dalits, minorities, farmers, youths, Singareni coal mine workers, artisans and weavers, among various sections of society. He visited the Sripada Yellampally project in Mancherial and checked the crops damaged due to unseasonal rains in the Ramagundam, Dharmapuri, Huzurabad, Husnabad and Vardhannapeta constituencies. He also had an interaction with students at the Kakatiya university campus. The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) leaders have claimed that Vikramarka’s yatra highlighted the KCR government’s “failures” besides apprising the people of the Congress’s pledges for the upcoming polls, which include an LPG cylinder for Rs 500, Rs 5 lakh per household for construction of houses and Rs 2 lakh crop loan waiver for farmers. Former TPCC chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy said the CLP leader’s march has “enthused” the party cadres and “boosted” its poll prospects. The Congress in charge for Telangana, Manik Rao Thakre, has echoed similar sentiments.
