Priyanka Gandhi set to seak at election rally in Telangana on October 31

The gathering named 'Palamuru Praja Bheri' is scheduled to take place in the Kollapur constituency, where the party candidate is former minister Jupally Krishna Rao.

Hyderabad: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will address an election rally in Telangana’s Mahabubnagar district on October 31.

The public meeting titled ‘Palamuru Praja Bheri’ will be held in Kollapur constituency where former minister Jupally Krishna Rao is the party candidate.

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Krishna Rao, who was suspended by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) a few months ago, had announced in June that he will join the Congress party. He was to formally join the party at a public meeting to be addressed by Priyanka Gandhi in Kollapur. However, the public meeting was postponed twice due to heavy rain in July.

The former minister finally joined the party in the presence of AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge in New Delhi on August 3.

With the Congress party fielding Krishna Rao from Kollapur, he requested the leadership to organise a public meeting by inviting Priyanka Gandhi.

This will be Priyanka Gandhi’s second visit to Telangana after the announcement of the Assembly poll schedule.

She along with her brother Rahul Gandhi had visited Mulugu district to launch the party’s election campaign on October 18.

While Priyanka Gandhi had returned after addressing a public meeting at Mulugu, Rahul Gandhi continued the ‘Vijayabheri yatra’ for three days covering Assembly constituencies in four districts.

The Congress party has already announced candidates for 52 out of 119 constituencies.

Undivided Mahabubnagar is one of the districts the Congress is laying special focus on.

Out of 14 seats in the undivided district, the Congress party has announced candidates for eight seats. In four constituencies, it has fielded leaders who had joined the party recently after defecting from BRS.

This has triggered dissent in the party as the senior leaders felt sidelined. Ticket to Jupallly in Kollapur has angered constituency incharge Chintapalli Jagdeeshwar Rao. He hinted that he may enter the fray as an independent.

Krishna Rao had resigned from Congress to join BRS in 2011. He was elected from Kollapur constituency in Mahabubnagar district in 2014 on BRS ticket. He felt sidelined in the BRS after MLA Harshvardhan Reddy, who had defeated him in 2018 elections, switched his loyalties from Congress to BRS after the Assembly polls.