Rahul Gandhi's to embark on 'padyatra' in Telangana tomorrow; will highlight farmers' issues

Rahul Gandhi will embark on a 15-km 'padyatra' (footmarch) in Telangana's Adilabad district tomorrow, highlighting the issues of farmers over which he has aggressively taken on Narendra Modi government.

The Congress Vice President, who had attacked the Modi government on land bill issue in Parliament and also reached out to farmers in Punjab and Vidarbha region of Maharashtra in recent weeks, is visiting Telangana for the first time since it was carved out from Andhra Pradesh on June 2 last year.

Gandhi will meet the families of farmers who have allegedly committed suicide due to agrarian distress in Telangana and will address farmers at Koratikal village at the end of his padyatra.

In the first leg of his stir, he had taken out a similar padyatra in Vidarbha region, notorious for farmer suicides, on April 30.

The Congress here is looking at Gandhi's visit as a morale booster to party's rank and file. Gandhi is scheduled to directly go to Nirmal in Adilabad from Nanded in Maharashtra, skipping Hyderabad.

He was earlier scheduled to arrive here and interact with students of Osmania University and party workers at the airport and then proceed to Nirmal, from where he is slated to undertake a 15-km padyatra tomorrow to highlight farmers' woes.

Gandhi would spend the night in Adilabad, senior Congress leader and former minister D Sridhar Babu told PTI.

Despite mounting an aggressive campaign and claiming credit for separate statehood of Telangana, Congress had last year lost elections to the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) led by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

The Congress leaders here, however, said Gandhi's visit is to primarily focus on the plight of the farmers.

"Gandhi's campaign is meant to highlight the woes of the farmers in the country in general and that of the state in particular," Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) working president Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka yesterday said.

"He will tomorrow meet the families of farmers who have allegedly committed suicide due to agrarian distress in Telangana and console them," he said.

Also, Gandhi will address farmers at Koratikal village at around 4 p.m tomorrow at the end of his padayatra.

As many as 936 farmers have committed suicide in the state during recent times, the TPCC chief said.

Telangana opposition parties Congress, TDP and BJP too have alleged that hundreds of farmers committed suicide due to agrarian crisis since the TRS government came to power last year, a charge denied by the administration.