Rahul Gandhi to sound Congress poll bugle in Telangana on July 2

Rahul Gandhi will sound the poll bugle for the Indian National Congress, addressing a public meeting at Khammam on Sunday, 2 July, as Telangana heads for its state assembly elections.

The Congress State Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka's padayatra (procession on foot) will also conclude at the rally.

Gandhi will formally felicitate Vikramarka, who began his march near Adilabad, covering 1,360 km in 108 days as of Saturday, party sources said.

At the meeting, former Khammam MP Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy will also formally join the Congress.

Both Srinivas Reddy and ex-minister Jupally Krishna Rao recently announced their decision to join the party.

The victory of the Congress in the recent Karnataka elections next door has already given a boost to the party unit in neighbouring Telangana.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president and MP A. Revanth Reddy has said the party will end the BRS rule in the state with the rally in Khammam.

Reddy expressed confidence that the Khammam meeting will be attended by more people than those who came for the public meet organised in town by the ruling BRS earlier.

The Congress is making elaborate arrangements for the rally's success, and seeks to ward off the challenge from the BJP, which is making an effort to emerge as the leading alternative to the ruling BRS as well.

The BJP did win two assembly bypolls and performed well in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections over the last couple of years, thus posing a threat to the Congress, which holds the main opposition space.

In fact, the Congress has been the main opposition party in Telangana since its formation in 2014. So it will be looking to consolidate that position in turn, led by Gandhi.