Rahul Gandhi’s Yatra continues in Andhra Pradesh for third day

Kurnool: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra continued in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district for the third consecutive day on Thursday.

He resumed the Yatra from Banavasi village in Yemmiganur mandal in the morning. Accompanied by leaders and workers of the party, he walked till Mugati village.

Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) chief S. Sailajanath, former union minister Pallam Raju, former MP K. Bapiraju and other leaders and hundreds of workers participated in the Yatra.

The foot march will resume at 4 p.m. from Halaharvi. It will halt for a corner meeting at Kalludevakunta at 6.30 p.m.

The Congress MP will have darshan at Sri Raghavanedra Swamy Math which will be followed by a meeting with Sri Subdhendra Tirtha at Mantralayam.

Rahul Gandhi will have a night halt at Chetnihalli.

The Yatra’s Andhra Pradesh leg will conclude on Friday after covering a total distance of about 100 km in four Assembly segments in Kurnool district.

It will cover Aluru, Adoni, Yemmiganur, and Mantralayam Assembly segments before entering neighbouring Telangana.

In an interaction with media persons at Adoni, Rahul Gandhi had claimed that the march was receiving huge response in Andhra Pradesh.

He stated that the state Congress leaders were surprised over the tremendous response to the Yatra in the state.

He also termed the response to Bharat Jodo Yatra in Andhra Pradesh as a good starting point to rebuild the party in the state. “We have had tremendous response to our Yatra. Lot of leaders were quite surprised over the enthusiasm and response we have had. I think this is a very good starting point to build the Congress party in Andhra Pradesh,” he said.

The Congress party was nearly wiped out in 2014 elections due to public anger over bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. It again drew a blank in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

Rahul Gandhi evaded reply when asked whether Congress regretted the decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh. “I am not going to go into the past. I am interested in discussing the future. I am very clear. As far as Andhra Pradesh is concerned, a commitment was made and it should be fulfilled. I am not interested in delving into the past,” he said.

The Congress leader said all the commitments made by the government of India to Andhra Pradesh at the time of bifurcation should be fulfilled. He identified Polavaram project and special category status to the state as the main commitments and reiterated that if voted to power at the Centre, Congress would fulfill the commitments.