Rahul Gandhi to kick-start campaign in TS today

Focus on minorities and farmers at his three meetings in the State, say Congress party leaders

October 19, 2018 11:14 pm | Updated 11:14 pm IST - Hyderabad

A view of Charminar, where AICC president Rahul Gandhi is expected to launch the Sadbhavana Yatra on Saturday.

A view of Charminar, where AICC president Rahul Gandhi is expected to launch the Sadbhavana Yatra on Saturday.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Rahul Gandhi will kick start his election campaign in the poll-bound Telangana addressing three meetings on Saturday, and the underlying theme looks to woo minorities.

The three venues — Charminar, Bhainsa and Kamareddy — chosen by the party for Mr. Gandhi’s public meetings indicate that it seriously wants to tap the minorities and infuse the confidence that they are the only secular party and that actually understand farmers’ concerns.

With the constant attack on the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) linking it to a ‘secret’ understanding with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Asaduddin Owaisi led All India Majils-Ittehadul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) that has extended its open support to the TRS, the Telangana Congress has already made its intentions clear. “We have successfully exposed this secret alliance to the common Muslims and it is slowly sinking into them,” says Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) treasurer Gudur Narayan Reddy.

Clear message

Mr. Gandhi’s first-ever visit to the historic Charminar to address the Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhanava Yatra, started by his late father Rajiv Gandhi in 1990 against communal riots, is also being seen as an effort to woo prominent Muslim leaders. “The BJP-TRS combine cannot protect minorities and that message will be sent clearly,” says AICC secretary incharge for Telangana R.C. Khuntia.

Old city is the bastion of the AIMIM, which had cordial relations with the Congress since long but turned a bitter critic ever since the arrest of Mr. Akbaruddin Owaisi on charges of inflammatory speeches when N. Kiran Kumar Reddy was the Chief Minister in the combined state. The other two venues — Bhainsa in erstwhile Adilabad district and Kamareddy town in erstwhile Nizamabad district — have substantial minority population.

“Kamareddy is also closely connected to three different districts with huge Gulf employee population. Moreover, earlier it was in Medak Parliamentary constituency represented by Indira Gandhi once,” says AICC secretary and former Nizamabad MP Madhu Yashki Goud.

Farmer issues

Mr. Gandhi will also focus on farmers, particularly cotton farmers in Bhainsa, which is one of the biggest cotton markets in the State. In Kamareddy, he will touch upon issues related to agriculture and agro-based farmers.

The meetings, the Congress leaders feel, will rejuvenate the party that suffered badly in both Adilabad and Nizamabad districts in 2014 elections. Though TRS swept the polls then, in recent times it has suffered a big jolt with prominent leaders joining the Congress, including an MLC and a former MP.

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