Telangana poll campaign set to hit feverish pitch

Campaigning for the upcoming Telangana Assembly polls is set to reach its crescendo with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and other senior leaders scheduled to hold rallies in the state this week.

Modi will address public meetings at Nizamabad and Mahabubnagar on November 27, state BJP president K Laxman said on Saturday.

He will address another campaign meeting at the Lal Bahadur stadium in Hyderabad on December 3, ahead of the state polls scheduled on December 7, he said.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah, who is taking part in the campaign on Sunday, would again visit the state on November 28 and December 2, Laxman said.

Rahul Gandhi would participate in a roadshow at Parigi and Chevella near Hyderabad on November 29, according to former Congress MLA T Rammohan Reddy.

The Congress chief had attended a public meeting at Medchal on the outskirts of Hyderabad along with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on November 23.

The tour schedule of Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is being finalised and he is likely to campaign in Telangana on November 28 and 29, TDP polit-bureau member Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy said.

The BJP is going solo in the state Assembly polls while the Congress is leading a 'grand alliance' of opposition parties including the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS).

Naidu and Rahul Gandhi are expected to jointly campaign in favour of the alliance's candidates.

TJS president M Kodandaram is the main campaigner for his party.

For the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), its president and caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has already been addressing campaign rallies crisscrossing the state.

His son K T Rama Rao, who is a minister in the caretaker government, has been canvassing in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) region.

The TRS is also going solo in the state polls.