Hyderabad: The Medchal public meeting on Friday left nobody in any doubt that the Gandhi family is still idolised by the leaders and workers of the Telangana Congress party and some non-political persons as well.
Party workers get a lot of confidence from seeing their national leaders, but it was a “double dhamaka” for them when both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi shared the stage at the Medchal public meeting.
As expected, the cheering was uncontrollable when UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi walked onto the stage. Rahul Gandhi came a bit late as he was coming from another poll-bound state, Madhya Pradesh. Rahul's entry brought the cheers to a deafening level. The crowd wanted to see and hear only Sonia and Rahul.
The party workers’ eyes were busy concentrating on the duo, when they raised their hands to wave to the people of Telangana and party workers who attended the meeting.
Among those who had been waiting for Sonia Gandhi was Ramulu Naik from Devarakonda in Nalgonda district. “Though I have turned 75, I have come here to see Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi on the same stage. Whenever there was meeting of Congress leaders I used to attend it without fail because I belong to the Lambada community and we have very much respect towards the Gandhi family, since Indira Gandhi has identified us and given us ST status,” he said.
Another member of the audience, K Anjaiah from Medchal, identified Sonia Gandhi as “the one who gave us Telangana. So as a thanksgiving to Sonia Gandhi, I have attended the meeting. Very happy that Sonia Gandhi is coming to our constituency in her first visit to Telangana state. We had expected much after the state was formed and are disappointed with the TRS government. The Chief Minister is not interested in meeting the public and is now asking for our votes. So, we came here to support the Congress.”
The meeting ground was surrounded by cut-outs of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Like never before the ground was filled with the flags of the Congress and the Telugu Desam. This was a different feeling for the workers who attended the meeting today, as it was a never expected movement for party workers of both the Congress and Telugu Desam. “I have not even dreamed about this combination before. It is a good decision to end the dictatorship in the state,” said a party worker holding both party flags in his hands.
Apart from the top leaders of the AICC, Congress party leaders belonging to the state and other eminent personalities got cheers before Sonia and Rahul arrived at the meeting. The crowd cheered lustily for Balladeer Gaddar after seeing him on the screens that were set up around the ground. As usual, Revanth Reddy got a huge response as the youth started chanting 'CM'. When Revanth Reddy started his speech crackers were let off and people cheered.
The other person who got a huge response from the public was Vanteru Pratap Reddy, who is contesting against TRS Chief K Chandrasekhar Rao in Gajwel.
TJS president M Kodandaram, TD state president L Ramana, CPI state secretary Chada Venkat Reddy, former Union Minister S Jaipal Reddy, Komatireddy Venkata Reddy, Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, Ponnam Prabhakar, Madhu Yashki Goud, Vijaya Shanti, D K Aruna, J Geetha Reddy, Renuka Chowdary, Backward Classes leader R Krishniah, Manda Krishna Madiga and others were also present.
