No consensus reached on Congress bus yatra launch

Hyderabad: What comes first? The bus yatra or the candidates list? This question has turned into something of a road block for the Congress' plans to flag off a bus yatra, which will take its top leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and others to the interiors of the state ahead of the crucial Assembly elections.

The issue of finalising candidates was discussed at a TPCC political affairs committee (PAC) meeting on Tuesday and the party is likely to release its candidates list after October 15.

Addressing a press conference after the PAC meeting, TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy said, "The bus yatra will be launched as per the decision of the party high command. Two suggestions have come up during the discussion. A few members suggested that the bus yatra should be launched after the declaration of party candidates. Others suggested that the bus yatra should be launched first and candidates can be declared during its course."

There were also different suggestions on the route. Some wanted it to begin from Adilabad, and others wanted it to end there, after starting from the Alampur Jogulamba temple in Gadwal.

It was proposed to hold a bus yatra initially for 10 to 15 days in the first phase and cover all the districts in phases by November 20.

The meeting also discussed involving the Chief Ministers of four Congress-ruled states in the bus yatra besides AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, noted national level leaders such as Jairam Ramesh, P. Chidambaram and Digvijaya Singh, who played a key role in the formation of Telangana state, when the UPA government was in power at the Centre.

The AICC Central Election Committee (CEC) is yet to meet and discuss the probable candidates list that was approved by the TPCC screening committee. It is expected that the party leadership will start announcing candidates for five states including Telangana, which are going for Assembly polls in November, from October 16.