CWC meet to set tone for Congress’s electioncampaign in Telangana

The first meeting of the reconstituted Congress Working Committee to be held in Hyderabad on Saturday has generated a euphoria among the party leaders and cadre in Telangana, which is going to polls in another three months.

The party leaders and cadre are in an upbeat mood with several top leaders of the party including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Kharge landing in the city to work out the party strategy for the upcoming elections to the state assembly as well as 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

“The CWC meeting would set the tone for a revolutionary change in Telangana politics. The people are eagerly waiting for the opportunity to pull down the corrupt regime of Bharat Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao,” AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said on Friday.

He said the CWC meeting under AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge would begin at 2 pm on Saturday, which would be attended by 90 members, including chief ministers of four Congress-ruled states. On Sunday, there would be an extended CWC meeting which would be attended by over 180 members including PCC presidents and Congress Legislature Party leaders of various states and AICC executive members, he said.

“Sonia Gandhi promised to grant separate statehood to Telangana and fulfilled her promise in 2014. Unfortunately, our party could not come to power. But now, the people of Telangana have realised their folly of electing the BRS government, which has turned out to be the most corrupt government in the country,” Venugopal said.

On September 17, which is celebrated as Telangana National Integration Day, the party will hold a “mega rally,” named as Vijaya Bheri at Tukkuguda on the outskirts of Hyderabad. “Sonia Gandhi will unveil the party’s election agenda and announce six guarantees for Telangana for coming assembly election,” PCC president A Revanth Reddy said.

Nalgonda MP and Congress Central Election Committee (CEC) member Capt N Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the CWC meeting and the Vijaya Bheri public meeting would be the starting point for the Congress party’s return to power in Telangana and at the Centre.

He said the CWC meeting in Hyderabad had a huge political significance as it coincides with the 75th anniversary of the merger of the erstwhile Hyderabad State with the Indian Union on September 17, 1948.

Describing Sonia Gandhi as the real mother of Telangana, Reddy said she had granted statehood to Telangana despite knowing that the party would suffer huge political losses in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. “However, Sonia Gandhi never regretted deciding statehood for Telangana, as she fulfilled the 60-year-old dream of the people of Telangana,” he said.

Stating that the trend and undercurrent were “very clear that there was a silent wave sweeping across Telangana in favour of Congress”, Uttam said that the Congress would win more than 70 seats in the upcoming Telangana assembly elections.

Soon after the Vijayabheri rally, the party leaders and cadre would begin a state-wide campaign to take the Congress party guarantees to the every door step. “All the rank and file of the party will take the six guarantee cards to the people of the state and explain to the people what the party is going to do if it is voted to power,” AICC general secretary in-charge of Telangana Manik Rao Thakre said.

The party is likely to finalise the first list of candidates soon after the CWC meeting and straightway go into the people with the campaign, Thakre said.