All India Congress Committee vice-president Rahul Gandhi is likely to undertake his second tour of the State sometime in the second week of November, after his largely successful public meeting at Sangareddy on June 1.
This time, the State Congress leadership has invited him to address a public meeting of dalits, girijans and Backward Classes tentatively in Warangal district. The party plans to name the meeting “dalit, girijana, BC garjana”.
Mr. Gandhi’s tour programme came up for preliminary discussion at a meeting held here on Sunday and attended by All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Telangana R.C. Khuntia and other senior leaders. A top TPCC functionary said they had sounded the party vice-president’s office about the public meeting.
Hollow promises
“We have invited him to address a meeting in Warangal district on November 9 but his office said he was busy that day. We hope that his office will give us time during the second week of November. We have also asked whether November 13 or 14 is convenient for him,” the party functionary said, adding that Congress leadership wanted to expose the “hollow” promises of the TRS Government.
The Congress, which has been on the offensive in the last few weeks, plans to mobilise fairly large crowd for the proposed public meeting.
Leaders maintain that dalits, girijans and BCs had high expectations of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) Government but were left a disappointed lot now after they were denied promised sops.
The party intends to highlight the alleged ‘atrocities’ committed on dalits and girijans in the State such as the high-handed behaviour towards dalits of Nerella and arrest of tribal farmers in Khammam district. “The State Government and TRS leadership is not giving due respect to downtrodden sections, leave alone meeting their demands,” a Congress leader present at Sunday’s meeting said.
