Mancherial​: With the TRS advancing the state elections, the Congress has ushered in the Bathukamma festival early.
Former Congress MLC Kokkirala Premsagar Rao and his wife Surekha were seen distributing 80,000 Bathukamma saris in the Mancherial Assembly constituency from where they are aspiring a party ticket for one of them. They have handed over 45,000 so far. The Congress leaders are distributing the saris through a trust named after Mr Rao’s father Kokkirala Raghupathi Rao.
Their gift of Bathukamma saris comes much ahead of the government’s distribution of Sircilla-made saris for the festival. Speaking to this newspaper, Mr Rao said women had enrolled as members of the trust and they will be given identity cards valid for 10 years. Each card-holder is eligible for the Bathukamma saris.
“We purchased the saris from Surat and Coimbatore and are distributing them to the women. They should speak about the quality of the saris, I am not supposed to comment on it,” Mr Rao said.
