Telangana Congress seniors to embark on Bus Yatra on February 26

HYDERABAD:  As per the directive of their party high command, the Telangana Congress seniors, who are crossing swords with each other in the districts, will sit in a bus in order to show their party cadres that they have buried the hatchet.Congress, which had earlier announced that it would undertake a “Bus Yatra” in the State to sound the bugle for ensuing Assembly elections, on Saturday finalised the schedule for the proposed yatra. According to sources, the yatra will begin at 1 pm on February 26 in Chevella, where the historic padayatra of YS Rajasekhara Reddy  had begun in 2003 against the then N Chandrababu Naidu government in the erstwhile united State.

The first phase of bus yatra will continue till March 11 with a short pause from March 1 to March 3 in view of Holi. There will be a break for the yatra from March 12 to March 31 because of ensuing budget session of the State Assembly. The second phase will begin again on April 1 and will last till May 15. The yatra would cover at least three to four Assembly segments in a day. 

The tentative route map for the bus yatra was finalised during a meeting held at Gandhi Bhavan on Saturday evening. It is learnt that after May 15, some of the Congress leaders will undertake their choice of yatras across the State to expose the alleged failures of the State government. 

Party veteran V Hanumantha Rao will undertake a Rath Yatra. Likewise, party leaders — TPCC working president Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, MLA A Revanth Reddy and ex-MP Ponnam Prabhakar will take up padayatras, separately.The party also decided to organise a massive public meeting on June 1 on the eve of Telangana Formation Day either in Hyderabad or Warangal. The party leaders are planning to invite AICC president Rahul Gandhi to the meeting.

Party’s love for bus yatras traces a history 
Organising bus yatras is not something new for the Congress leaders. In the erstwhile united State, Congress leaders travelled in a bus to prove their unity, during elections. Post-bifurcation, Congress undertook a bus yatra, featuring the then Union minister and film actor K Chiranjeevi and APCC president N Raghuveera Reddy in March 2014, prior to the last Assembly polls. But, the yatra got off to a poor start. As the response was very poor from people, the yatra was abruptly halted later.