Congress to balance between Bharat Jodo Yatra, bypoll

Hyderabad: Will Rahul's Bharat Jodo Yatra in Telangana play a spoilsport to Congress bypoll campaign in Munugodu?

Rahul Gandhi will be entering Telangana on October 14 and will be here till November 1 covering about 300 km in the state. The TPCC has taken it up as a very important and major event and is focussing utmost attention on the padayatra. This appears to be assuming greater importance than the bypoll.

The TPCC, which had nominated all senior leaders like N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Mohd Shabbir Ali, Damodar Rajanarasimha among others as party in-charges for the bypoll, has recalled them with immediate effect. They would now be given responsibility to make the Bharat Jodo Yatra a success and mobilise large crowds for the meetings Rahul would be addressing and interactions.

Some middle level leaders will be named as new in-charges for the bypoll. This has become a cause of worry for the party candidate Palvai Sravanthi since she has to face the high-pitch campaign of TRS and BJP. However, the decision for shift in the focus from bypoll to Rahul's yatra was taken after TPCC president Revanth Reddy consulted AICC high command. He reportedly told the high command about the importance of the byelection and its outcome which could have an impact on the prospects of the party in the general elections. But the high command told him to do a balancing act and give high importance to Rahul's yatra and ensure that everything goes off smoothly.