Assembly elections: Rahul Gandhi to campaign in Telangana in first week of Nov

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will visit Telangana in the first week of next month to participate in the second phase of bus yatra as part of the party’s campaign for the 30 November Assembly elections.

While the schedule of his visit is yet to be finalised, he is likely to cover south Telangana districts during this phase.

Gandhi, along with his sister and party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had launched the election campaign on 18 October with a public meeting in Mulugu.

Rahul Gandhi participated in Vijayabheri bus yatra on 19 and 20 October covering various constituencies in five districts in north Telangana.

State party Working President Mahesh Kumar Goud said the second phase of bus Yatra will start from 28 October .

The party, however, has not yet finalised the schedule and the leaders who will participate in it. Congress incharge for Telangana Manikrao Thakare, state unit chief A. Revanth Reddy, MPs Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and Uttam Kumar Reddy and other senior leaders will campaign on 26 and 27. October.

They will visit two constituencies a day to explain to people the six guarantees announced by the party.

Priyanka Gandhi will visit the state again on 31 October. She will address a public meeting in Mahabubnagar district.

Titled 'Palamuru Praja Beri' public meeting, it will be held in Kollapur constituency where former minister Jupally Krishna Rao is the party candidate.

Goud said after reaching Shamshabad Airport in Hyderabad, Priyanka Gandhi will leave for Kollapur. He said a meeting of the Central Election Committee (CEC) of the party would be held in Delhi on Wednesday. The second list of candidates is likely to be announced after the meeting. He said the CEC will decide the candidate for Nizamabad Urban assembly segment, where he is one of the aspirants.

Former Mayor D. Sanjay, former DCC president Taher Bin Hamdan and TPCC former Secretary N. Ratnakar are also the aspirants.

Goud said Muslims were demanding tickets for Adilabad, Nizamabad, and Mahbubnagar seats. Claiming that minorities are backing the party, he said only Congress can do justice to minorities.