Cong to sound poll bugle in T'gana with meet addressed by Rahul on July 2

The Congress would sound the poll bugle in Telangana on Sunday with party leader Rahul Gandhi addressing a public meeting at Khammam.

Congress State Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka's 'padayatra' would also conclude at the rally.

Gandhi would felicitate Vikramarka, who began his foot march near Adilabad, covering 1,360 km in 108 days as on Saturday, party sources said.

At the meeting, former Khammam MP Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy would join Congress.

Srinivas Reddy and ex-minister Jupally Krishna Rao have recently announced their decision to join the party.

The victory of Congress in recent Karnataka elections gave a boost to the party unit in neighbouring Telangana.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president and MP A Revanth Reddy has said the party would end the BRS rule in state with the rally in Khammam.

Reddy, who inspected the arrangements on Friday for the public meeting, said Congress would sound the bugle for elections with the Khammam rally and expressed confidence that the meeting would be attended by more people compared to the public meeting organised earlier by ruling BRS in the town.

Aiming to win the Assembly polls scheduled to be held later this year in Telangana, Congress is making elaborate arrangements to make the rally being attended by Gandhi, a huge success.

The party is also seeking to ward off the challenge from BJP which is making efforts to emerge as the alternative to ruling BRS.

BJP had won two assembly bypolls and came up with good performance in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections during the last couple of years posing a threat of occupying the main opposition space held by Congress.

Congress has been the major opposition party in Telangana since state formation in 2014.