Rahul Gandhi to address two election rallies in AP on March 31

Congress President Rahul Gandhi would hit the campaign trail in Andhra Pradesh on March 31, addressing two election rallies, a senior AICC functionary said Thursday.

He would address meetings in Vijayawada and Kalyanadurg in Anantapur district in the state, where the Congress is contesting the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections on its own, AICC Secretary In-Charge of party affairs in Andhra Pradesh C D Meyyappan told PTI.

The Congress chief would arrive in Vijayawada from New Delhi in the forenoon on March 31 and address the rally at Makineni Basavapunnaiah Stadium there.

He would then fly to Bengaluru for an election meeting in the Karnataka capital and return to Andra Pradesh to address the rally in Kalyandurg, from where state Congress chief N Raghuveera Reddy is seeking election to the assembly, Meyyappan said.

The state would have simultaneous single phase polling to the 175-member assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats on April 11 with a multi-cornered contest involving the ruling TDP, main opposition YSR Congress Party, the Congress, the Jana Sena headed by Pawan Kalyan and the BJP.

Gandhi had visited Andhra Pradesh on February 22 when he trekked the 10 km-long stairway to the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara at nearby Tirumala and offered prayers.

Later, he had addressed a rally here and promised to accord special category status to Andhra Pradesh if the Congress was voted to power, an issue over which the TDP had snapped its ties with BJP in March last year.