New Delhi:Rahul Gandhi will launch the Congress party’s unity bus yatra, which will go through all the 119 Assembly constituencies and involve the top party leaders, in Telangana next week.“Yes, we have invited Rahul for next week. The dates are being worked out. We will invite all the top leaders also,” AICC in-charge of Telangana Manikrao Thakre told ETV Bharat.
According to party insiders, while Rahul will launch the bus yatra, aimed to project unity in the state team, other top party functionaries, including President Mallikarjun Kharge, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, all the four Chief Ministers and seniors like Jairam Ramesh and Digvijay Singh will also join the convoy in different constituencies in a show of strength.
The party insiders said that the bus yatra is likely to start on October 15 or 16 and will cover all 119 Assembly seats in a month. A meeting of the state unit is to be held in Hyderabad on October 7 to work out the date and the details of the plan, the insiders said. The bus yatra would provide another opportunity for Congress to target the ruling BRS as well as the BJP. Rahul recently slammed the BRS and the BJP for being hand-in-glove citing a statement from PM Modi that BRS chief and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao wanted to join the NDA earlier.
“That is the reason Rahul had said a clear no to BRS joining the opposition alliance INDIA. He has always been against joining hands with the BRS,” a senior AICC functionary said. The party’s plans to involve the heavyweights is to get the maximum traction for the bus yatra which will be launched after a grand rally by Rahul.
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Accordingly, dates are being worked out to facilitate the participation of Priyanka Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge Karnataka Chief Minister K Siddaramaiah, deputy chief minister DK Shiv Kumar, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Sukhu.
Besides, senior leaders like Digvijay Singh and Jairam Ramesh may also join, the party insiders said. These national leaders will join the bus yatra at particular points to accompany the PCC leaders. “Priyanka Gandhi must visit the state during Navratri and attend the Bathukamma celebrations. This will boost the state Congress, especially the women voters,” Revanth Reddy said.
Priyanka is expected to visit Telangana by the end of this month or November first week to present a women’s charter and address a rally in Nizamabad, said party insiders. The yatra is modelled on the lines of a similar campaign run by the party in Karnataka to project unity between the two stalwarts K Siddaramaiah and DK Shiv Kumar. In Telangana, the Congress show is being led by state unit chief Revanth Reddy and CLP leader Bhatti Vikramarka, who have inducted a lot of BRS and BJP leaders over the past weeks.
On Friday, BRS leaders Kasireddy Narayana Reddy and Thakur Balaji Singh, along with over 100 other leaders from Kalwakurthy Assembly constituency, joined the Congress in the presence of Kharge. As the yatra would start days after the Election Commission announced the poll dates, some party leaders pointed out that the management of yatra expenses could be an issue. “No, that will not be a problem. The yatra will go on. Whoever has to join will join in a particular constituency,” the AICC functionary said.
