This Article is From Apr 15, 2014

Sonia Gandhi's first election rally in Telangana on Wednesday

Sonia Gandhi's first election rally in Telangana on Wednesday

File photo of Sonia Gandhi.

Hyderabad: Congress President Sonia Gandhi will address an election rally at Karimnagar in Telangana tomorrow, her first public meeting in the region after the passage of Statehood Bill in February.

The rally is likely to take place in the evening, Congress sources said in Hyderabad.

The meeting is crucial for Congress leaders in Telangana as they have pinned their hopes on Mrs Gandhi's campaign to boost the morale of cadres and ward off competition from regional heavyweights TRS and the TDP-BJP combine.

It was in Karimnagar that the Congress chief had made pro-Telangana comments several years ago.

Pre-poll surveys by different news channels indicated it may not be a cakewalk for Congress, as expected, though the party-led UPA government got the Telangana Bill passed.

Refusing to a merger or even an electoral alliance with Congress, TRS has decided to go it alone in the polls.

Highlighting its role in achieving separate Telangana, TRS now says the "reconstruction" of the new state, which will come into being on June 2, is possible only under its wings.

Congress, however, says it was the party which made the separate statehood dream become a reality and that a "golden Telangana" is possible only with it.

BJP had been consistent in supporting separate Telangana and its alliance with TDP, a major force in Andhra Pradesh, is seen as a potent one.

Simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly would be held in undivided Andhra Pradesh on April 30 in Telangana region and on May 7 in Seemandhra.

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