After Rahul Gandhi’s successful meeting in Khammam, the Congress wants to repeat the success with Priyanka Gandhi’s public meeting at Kollapur on July 30, which will be followed by a SC, ST, Minority Garjana on August 15 where AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge will participate.
This was decided at the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting of the Telangana Congress held on Sunday. While former BRS Minister Jupally Krishna Rao will join the Congress along with his supporters in the presence of Priyanka Gandhi, the SC, ST, and Minority Garjana will see a host of leaders from various parties joining the Congress in the presence of Mr. Kharge. The venue of his meeting will be decided later.
Ms. Priyanka will release the Women’s Declaration at the Kollapur meeting while Mr. Kharge will release the SC and ST declaration that will offer the party’s plans and schemes to be implemented once it comes to power. A sub-committee of party leaders, scholars, intellectuals and social activists will be constituted to suggest the schemes to be included in the declarations.
Poll strategies
Senior leaders said the meeting, chaired by the AICC in-charge for Telangana Manikrao Thakre, had a serious discussion on various issues. Party’s strategies to be adopted and the issues related to the constituencies apart from the failures of the government that the Congress should expose were explained in a presentation made by the party’s strategist Sunil Kanugolu.
Later, addressing the media, Telangana Congress Campaign Committee Chairman Madhu Yashki Goud and PAC convener Mohd Shabbir Ali said there will be several public meetings to be addressed by Congress leaders in various constituencies. There was a demand for Backward Classes to be given 34 seats in the coming Assembly elections.
The shape and route of the proposed bus yatra of the senior Congress leaders would be decided by a sub-committee, the three-hour meeting of the PAC decided. The report would be submitted at the earliest.
Mr. Goud claimed that the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) was clearly rattled by the upsurge in Congress and people already deciding to vote out the BRS. He said the enhancement of the Aasara pension for the differently-abled to ₹4,016 was due to pressure from Congress, which has already announced ₹4,000 pension to all senior citizens.
Mr. Shabbir Ali said the meeting also passed a resolution on Manipur violence asking the Centre to take immediate action for resolving the issue. Party sources said that the issue of Mr. Ponnam Pranbhakar, who is annoyed at being left out of the Election Committee, would be resolved within a week.
