Rahul to join Congress yatra in Telangana

Congress president Rahul Gandhi would participate in the next phase of the partys Jana Chaitanya bus yatra in Telangana, beginning in the first week of next month.

Gandhi is likely to address a series of street corner meetings as part of the yatra here and neighbouring Ranga Reddy district, a party release said here today.

The date and venue were likely to be finalised in the next few days.

In the three phases of the bus yatra held so far, Congress leaders, led by Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy, have covered 40 out of 119 assembly segments in the state, where the assemby and Lok Sabha elections are to be held simultaneously next year.

The third phase of the yatra, aimed at exposing the alleged failures of the TRS government, was halted last month in view of Ramzan.

Reddy, who was in Delhi to attend the Congress Working Committee (CWC), held detailed discussion with in-charge for Congress affairs in Telangana R C Khuntia.

AICC Secretaries N S Bose Raju, Saleem Ahmed and Srinivasan Krishnan, assigned the task of supervising party activities in Parliamentary constituencies, also took part in the discussions, the release said.

According to the release, Reddy, in his interaction with media in Delhi, said the party was planning to release the manifesto and also announcecandidates for elections early.

He said the delay in release of manifesto and TRS president K Chandrasekhar Raospromises were the main reasons for the defeat of Congress in the 2014 elections in the state.

The TPCC chief said the manifesto, both at the national and state levels, should be released early.

Reddy, a former top IAF officer, also criticised the BJP for not divulging price details of the Rafale fighter jets.

"I'm a former fighter pilot and had flown MIG-21 and MIG-23 while serving at Pakistan and China borders. There is no need to reveal the fighting capabilities like the range, missiles, etc..But, the price cannot be a secret," he said.

BJP had been making "a hue and cry" over the AgustaWestland helicopters over pricing issue, while it wants to keep the cost of Rafale a secret, he said.