Congress Janahita padayatra faces urea shortage and rain hurdles

The Congress Janahita padayatra, launched on July 31, has been hit by delays due to farmer protests over urea shortage and rain-related damages. After an abrupt halt in early August, uncertainty looms over its next phase across Telangana districts

Hyderabad: Fearing backlash from farmers over the urea crisis and from residents affected by recent rains, the Telangana Congress seems to have postponed the next phase of the Janahita padayatra.

Ever since the Janahita padayatra was launched on July 31, it has been plagued with issues. Initially, it was announced that AICC incharge Meenakshi Natarajan would take up the padayatra.

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However, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy took strong objection and after a few deliberations, it was declared that TPCC president Mahesh Kumar Goud would undertake the padayatra.

After the ego clashes, the padayatra commenced and continued till August 4. But it was suspended abruptly as the State cabinet and Congress legislators headed to New Delhi to stage a dharna at Jantar Mantar seeking approval for 42 per cent reservations to BCs.

The Congress resumed the padayatra after legislators and leaders returned from the national capital. On August 22, the AICC incharge took State Congress leaders by surprise when she visited Indravelly, Adilabad without any notice and interacted with local tribal people.

The last padayatra was held in Wardhannapet for two days on August 25 and since then there has been no word on resuming the event.

Meanwhile, farmers have been staging protests for urea across the State. The farming community is up in arms against the Congress government for failing to provide sufficient urea stocks this season.

To make matters worse, a couple of Ministers charged that farmers were not standing in queues and that opposition parties were making their workers create ruckus. These remarks have not gone well with the farmers.

Besides, many districts in the State have been badly affected by heavy rains and several agriculture fields have been submerged. Many residential colonies were also flooded, resulting in severe property loss.

Amidst these challenges, there is uncertainty and the Congress cadre is clueless about the prospects of resuming the padayatra.

After the first phase, the second phase of the padayatra was to be taken up in the erstwhile districts of Khammam, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar and Hyderabad.

Considering the prevailing situations and the “mood” of different sections, the State leadership may postpone the next phase for a few more days. This apart, there is no clarity on conducting local body elections and extending BC reservations, a senior Congress leader said.

“At this juncture, it will not be wise to resume the padayatra. We have to wait for things to settle down,” the leader added.