Hyderabad: Telangana Congress leaders have decided to highlight the ‘mother and children’ sentiment of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi as part of their election campaign. Mrs Gandhi in her speech at the Medchal public meeting touched the hearts of public by saying she was feeling like a mother who had come to visit her children after a long time, and that she was pained to see them neglected.
Senior Congress leaders want to use this as a weapon to criticise the TRS and its president, caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. Congress leaders are of the opinion that Mrs Gandhi’s speech has given a boost to People’s Front candidates and want to cash in on the emotional speech.
TRS leaders have been criticising Mrs Gandhi since she spoke about Special Category Status (SCS) to AP while she was campaigning in Telangana state. Congress leaders said that there was nothing wrong in speaking about special status to AP.
They said there were many people from Andhra Pradesh settled in Telangana state and they are worried over the special status to AP.
In the recent Karnataka Assembly elections also, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had assured AP-origin people who had settled in Karnataka that the Congress after coming to power at the Centre would grant special category status to AP.
TPCC leader Jetti Sukumar said that in spite of her poor health, Mrs Gandhi had come to Hyderabad due to her affection for the people of Telangana. He said after four and a half years, Mrs Gandhi had come as she was worried over her “child’s condition”.
A senior TPCC leader said, “The Prajakutami has created a very good impact among the people of Telangana, but that atmosphere was spoilt due to confusion regarding the seat adjustments and delay in announcing the candidates. After Mrs Gandhi’s speech, the People’s Front has recovered the positive impact. The speech has given a boost to the alliance candidates.”
