Railways Denies Special Trains: Telangana Congress Deploys 150 Buses To Ferry 8,000 Cadres To Delhi For Nov 1 Rally
The Telangana Congress is mobilising up to 8,000 cadres for the November 1 rally at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi: Reports
HYDERABAD: The Telangana Congress is mobilising up to 8,000 cadres for the November 1 rally at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi against the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll and demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, after the railways declined its request for special trains at the last minute.
The TPCC had planned to transport at least 15,000 workers through special trains but was forced to arrange around 150 sleeper buses following the South Central Railway's refusal. Ministers are supervising mobilisation in their respective erstwhile districts, while MLAs and constituency in-charges are coordinating arrangements at the grassroots level.
Buses arranged by the PCC from various districts left on Friday morning, reached Adilabad by afternoon and proceed to Nagpur for an overnight halt. They will travel to Agra early on Saturday and reach Delhi by Saturday night. Accommodation has been arranged for the workers ahead of Sunday's rally.
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and some ministers are already in Delhi. The remaining ministers, MPs, MLAs, MLCs and senior leaders are expected to reach
the national capital by Friday night. Nearly 5,000 public representatives and senior leaders have booked flight tickets, while several district- and constituency-level leaders have opted for regular trains.
The Congress high command has taken the rally as a prestigious event and appointed AICC general secretary Avinash Pande as observer for mobilisation in
Telangana. He has held a series of meetings with party leaders to ensure maximum participation.
The TPCC has constituted a five-member committee to oversee food and accommodation arrangements for the visiting cadres. It comprises ministers Ponnam Prabhakar and Vakiti Srihari, and MPs Mallu Ravi, Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy and P Balaram Naik
TPCC leaders said the absence of special trains had affected the original target of 15,000 workers, but efforts were being made to ensure that at least 6,000 to 8,000 cadres from Telangana attend the rally.