Lukewarm response from public for Kharge’s meeting in Nalgonda

Kharge had to face an embarrassing situation as very few people turned up for the public meeting and he was forced to address the available audience.

Hyderabad: The Congress on Wednesday faced an embarrassing situation in Nalgonda, once considered a stronghold of the party, when party president Mallikarjun Kharge had to address a sparse crowd at Marrigada.

The public response to the meeting, which has bust the Congress bubble exposing its claims of the winds blowing in its favour in Telangana, was in stark contrast to the massive gathering that thronged the venues for BRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao‘s Praja Ashirvada Sabhas in multiple constituencies across the State, including the same in Nalgonda.

Kharge had to face an embarrassing situation as very few people turned up for the public meeting and he was forced to address the available audience. Most of the chairs were empty and people started leaving the venue even before the programme started. In fact, as soon as Kharge started his speech, people started walking out of the ground. Though Bhongir MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy tried to stop the people from leaving the venue, they continued to walk off. Videos of empty chairs and people leaving the venue even as Kharge can be seen addressing them on giant screens are being shared widely on social media.

Interestingly, this was when Venkat Reddy, as per his own declarations, is one of the contenders for the Chief Minister’s post if the Congress manages to come to power.

The response of the public to Kharge’s meeting is turning out to be a major embarrassment for the Congress, especially after TPCC president A Revanth Reddy has repeatedly been claiming that the party would come to power on December 3 in Telangana. The episode is likely to be more embarrassing for Venkat Reddy, who has been claiming that he has a strong grip over the erstwhile Nalgonda district.

Interestingly, most of the photographs and videos shared by Congress leaders including N Uttam Kumar Reddy show only the Congress leaders jostling for space on the dais, and not the audience.