HYDERABAD: Congress is focusing on regaining its strength in north Telangana. The leaders of the grand old party are on padayatras to connect with their own cadres as well as the people. The thrust is now on Adilabad, Karimnagar and Warangal.
TPCC president A Revanth Reddy and CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka are criss-crossing north Telangana. Revanth, who kicked off his yatra for change at Mulugu on February 6, has traversed several Assembly segments in Mahabubabad, Warangal, Karimnagar and Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituencies.
Even as Revanth is on his yatra, on March 16, Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka began his padayatra from Boath in erstwhile Adilabad district.
The Congress won a few Assembly seats in the 2018 elections in erstwhile Karimnagar, Adilabad, Nizamabad, Warangal and Khammam districts. They include Manthani, Mulugu, Bhupalapally, Yellareddy and Asifabad. Besides these, the party also won the graduates MLC elections. For many decades, north Telangana remained a strong belt for the Congress. However, after the 2014 and 2018 elections, its influence began to wane.
Aims to outshine BJP
During his padayatra, Revanth is trying to charge the cadres into action to fight the BRS in the next Assembly elections and help the Congress nominees win the election, particularly in the constituencies where the sitting Congress MLAs had defected to the BRS. Revanth is trying to wean away people from the influence of the BRS. The TPCC is making sure that all the local leaders walk with Revanth in their respective constituencies.
Interestingly, both TPCC and CLP leaders selected ST Assembly segments to kick off their padayatras to retain the party’s hold on the tribals and STs. North Telangana is very important for all political parties and hence the focus. This is where the Telangana movement was most fierce and it witnessed a number of uprisings.
The Congress is trying to position itself as a party in the reckoning for staking a claim for ‘gaddi’ in Telangana. It is doing everything in its power to outshine the BJP which is projecting itself as the only contender for power in the State.