New Delhi: The BRS and the BJP are hand-in-glove and fear former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, who created Telangana state, senior leaders of the grand old party said on Thursday.
“The BRS and the BJP are hand-in-glove. They fear Sonia Gandhi, who created the Telangana state. Hence, they are trying to disrupt her rally on September 17,” AICC in-charge of Telangana Manikrao Thakre said.
The Congress, he said, is angry over the fact that the state government had asked the grand old party to limit the number of persons at the Sep 17 rally only to 10,000 when the grand old party was planning to mobilise around 10 lakh people from the nearby areas.
The rally is crucial for the grand old party for two reasons. First, to remind the voters that it was Sonia Gandhi who gave the go-ahead for carving out the new state from Andhra Pradesh in 2013.
Second, to stage a mega show of strength in the poll-bound state on Sep 17 and follow it up with a never before campaigning across Telangana on September 18.
“The voters know that Sonia Gandhi created Telangana. She is coming to address the people on Sep 17, which is the day when the erstwhile Hyderabad State merged with the Union of India in 1948. The rally is to celebrate that day,” Telangana Congress Campaign Committee chief Madhu Goud Yashki told ETV Bharat.
“She will appeal to the voters to vote wisely for the future of the state,” he said. Incidentally, September 17 has also become an occasion for competitive nationalism between the BRS and the BJP. While the BRS will celebrate September 17 as National Integration Day, the BJP will organise events to mark it as Liberation Day.
“They both are doing it for the first time this year. This shows the fear of the Congress. That is why the state government denied permission for our rally planned initially at the Parade Ground in Secunderabad as the venue could accommodate a large crowd. Later, the farmers of Tukkuguda near Hyderabad offered land to us for the big rally. No wonder, the state government is now creating hurdles for the event. Besides asking us to limit the number of persons to 10,000, they have also imposed a lot of restrictions. But people will come on their own,” said Yashki.
“We have planned a never before kind of campaign,” he said. Besides Sonia Gandhi, the mega rally will also be addressed by former party chief Rahul Gandhi, incumbent party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The entire Congress Working Committee and senior state leaders would be on the dais to support the top leadership.
A day before, the recast CWC will hold its first-ever meeting in Hyderabad on Sep 16 to send a strong message to the voters. On Sep 17, Sonia Gandhi will release the five guarantees for the people of the state. The same evening top AICC and state leaders will travel to all the 119 assembly constituencies and stay the night there. On Sep 18, they would walk through the respective constituencies distributing leaflets carrying the five guarantees and a charge sheet against the BRS government, said Yashki.
