Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi will undertake a padyatra in the drought-prone Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday. This will be the first visit of the Congress VP to the State since the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and rout of Congress party in last year’s general elections.
Rahul’s visit to meet the distressed farmers and reassure them has come under attack from the ruling Telugu Desam Party with many of its leaders demanding an apology holding the Congress responsible for the division of the State. Several TDP leaders have threatened to disrupt Rahul’s programme evoking a sharp reaction from the Congress.
AP Congress president N Raghuveera Reddy has warned that the Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will be personally responsible for any minor untoward incident during the visit. “The State Government is conspiring to stop Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the State”, he said. Rejecting the allegation that the Congress was responsible for the division of the State, Raghuveera Reddy said, “The TDP was the first party to give a letter supporting the bifurcation. The Congress was the last to support it”.
Rahul will undertake the padyatra through Obuladevara Chervvu Village meeting farmers, students and the weavers. During the padyatra, he will also meet the family of Harinath Reddy, a farmer who committed suicide. He will garland the statues of Dr BR Ambedkar and former Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy. He is also scheduled to meet the villagers and discuss the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme, one of the flagship schemes of the Congress-led UPA Government. He will find out whether the people were getting the works and the wages under the scheme.
later, Rahul will go to Puttaparthy, the abode of Sai Baba and visit his Ashram and Samadhi and also meet the State Congress leaders.
Choice of Anantapur for the first visit of Rahul Gandhi was significant as it is the most drought-prone district in the State and the second driest district in the country after Jaislmer in Rajasthan. This is also the home of State Congress president Raghuveera Reddy.
Earlier in May, Rahul Gandhi had visited Adilabad district of Telangana and met the families of the farmers who had committed suicide.