Telangana Congress president Revanth Reddy once hated the Congress and the Gandhi family and treated them as enemies only to realise how wrong his thinking was, even as other leaders spoke out their heart.
He shared these views with Mr. Gandhi himself on the final day of his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Telangana, a video released by Mr. Gandhi’s team revealed. “Let me confess that I hated the Congress and the Gandhi family and firmly believed that they are the nation’s enemies when I was in the ‘organisation’,” he said.
However, he did not mention which organisation he was referring to but it is widely believed that it was either Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) or the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) with whom he had an association during his student days.
In an emotional tone, Mr. Reddy said, “I now firmly believe it is the same family that has sacrificed their members for the country and was the only hope to save it from the hatred spread around by the present rulers. What is money for such a family whose members sacrificed their wealth for the nation during the Independence movement and were killed by terrorists later on,” he said ridiculing the corruption charges against the Gandhi family.
In an open-hearted chat with Mr. Gandhi, every leader opened up freely. Mr. Gandhi appreciated Sangareddy legislator Jayaprakash Reddy for the way he organised the yatra in his constituency. “I saw you slapping a few people,” he said, as Mr. Reddy replied saying ‘everyone wanted to see you and I had to control my own men.’ The response, Mr. Reddy said, was so overwhelming that everyone wanted to have a glimpse of you. “This doesn’t happen if there was no love.”
Mulugu MLA Seethakka opened up saying she considered politics as a service as Mr. Gandhi nodded and former Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha explained that the noticeable gain was youngsters getting connected with the yatra everywhere. “This was not happening with the Congress before.”
Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Bhatti Vikramarka recalled how Mr. Gandhi had seen, participated and experienced so many cultures and that is bound to enrich him. Nalgonda MP Uttam Kumar Reddy referred to Mr. Gandhi’s clarity of thought during his interactions with several social groups and how they left with a new understanding of him.
Former MP Madhu Yaskhi touched on unity and how the yatra brought every Congressman together to which Mr. Gandhi said and asked them to be united just like this and then no one can defeat the Congress.
The video also showed Mr. Gandhi preparing ‘bamboo chicken’, a unique tribal dish, with some tribal women. He was seen mixing the ingredients like salt, turmeric, chili and other spices and placing the chicken pieces inside a bamboo stick and roasting them on charcoal. Later, he personally served the dish to the women and the leaders impressing them with his simplicity.
