Star campaigners descend on poll-bound Telangana

As polling day for 17 Lok Sabha and 119 Assembly seats in the Telangana region approaches, political parties, including the Congress, have summoned their star campaigners for a final showdown.

While Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi addressed a rally in Madikonda, Warangal district, on Friday, party president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are all set to address public meetings in the next few days.

After Rahul, Singh will address a rally in Bhongir, Nalgonda district, on Saturday. On Sunday, Sonia will address a rally at Andole in Medak district, from where Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarsimha is contesting.

All India Congress Committee state in-charge Digvijay Singh has begun his three day campaign programme from here. While Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh addressed rallies in Bodh, Adilabad district, Ghulam Nabi Azad will be addressing a series of meetings in Mahbubnagar from Saturday.

Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan, who shouldered the responsibility of campaigning for BJP-TDP, combine will continue his roadshows in Shadnagar of Mahbubnagar district.

The BJP had successfully organised four rallies for its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on a single day last week. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj will be campaigning in Narsapur, Warangal, Choutuppal and Zumerat Bazaar in the city on Saturday.

Addressing a rally in Warangal, Rahul announced several sops to impress the voter. He said if the Congress is voted to power, it would waive farm loans up to Rs 2 lakh, create 1 lakh jobs, provide irrigation to 7 lakh acres and set-up a textile park for Warangal worth Rs 400 crore.

He encouraged the youth to stop buying cheap goods made in China, and instead dream about “Made in Telangana” products. He also addressed another public meeting at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium here.

However, Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhar Rao is single handedly spearheading the party’s campaign. Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu and his son Lokesh are campaigning extensively for the party in the region, while former chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy is spearheading the campaign for his Jai Samaikyandhra Party.