Telangana Assembly Elections 2018: Bigwigs to hit campaign trail

​Hyderabad: A sonic maelstrom is waiting to hit Telangana with big guns of all parties getting ready to campaign to shore up the prospects of their respective parties in the election to the Telangana Assembly.

The bigwigs- Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Telangana and AP Chief Ministers K Chandrasekhar Rao and N Chandrababu Naidu – are all set to take a plunge in campaigning with polling date of December 7 draws closer.

Though finer details are yet to be worked out, Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit in the first week of December while Amit Shah will land in Telangana on November 25. He would campaign for the BJP till November 28.

Meanwhile, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi would be arriving ahead of the BJP leaders on November 22. The places where she would address public meeting are yet to be decided. She is likely to address two public meetings during her visit. AICC president Rahul Gandhi would follow Sonia Gandhi. He will arrive on November 27 and would continue campaign the next day also. He will again come to Telangana on December 3.

AP CM and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu will take up a five-day intensified poll campaign in November last week or December first week in the election-bound Telangana.  Apart from attending the campaign on behalf of his party contestants, Naidu will also participate in the public meetings to be organized by Mahakutami main partner Congress which is to be attended by AICC president Rahul Gandhi.

A team of party politburo members headed by TDP Telangana president L Ramana is preparing strategy for Naidu’s campaign. Tentatively, Naidu will kickstart campaign from the Kukatpally Assembly segment from where departed TDP leader N Harikrishna’s daughter Suhasini is contesting on Telugu Desam ticket.

Leaders said that Naidu will cover all the Assembly segments in Greater Hyderabad from where TDP candidates are fighting the elections.  As part of the campaign, the TDP chief will take part in the roadshows and address small gatherings in every segment. 

He will also visit Khammam, Sattupalli and Ashwaraopeta Assembly segments during the campaign. Door to door campaign in some segments is also planned, a senior leader said. Naidu’s campaign in other Assembly constituencies from where the Mahakutami partner Congress candidates are fighting elections is also under consideration. A schedule to this effect will be finalised only after consulting the Congress leadership. 

While this is so, Chief Minister and TRS president K Chandrashekar Rao would have a whirlwind tour of several districts as part of his campaign of the party and address public meetings in over 25 constituencies between November 19 and 25. The TRS leadership on Friday finalised the campaign schedule of the Chief Minister for the coming week starting from November 19. 

As per the schedule released by the party, the TRS chief would start campaigning on November 19. He would visit Khammam on Monday and address public meeting at Paleru at 2.30 pm. This meeting would be for two constituencies of Paleru and Khammam. He would address public meeting at Palakurthy in Jangaon district on the same day at 3.30 pm.

On Tuesday, the TRS president would visit Siddipet. He would address public meeting at 1 pm at Siddipet. This meeting would be for two constituencies of Siddipet and Dubbaka. He would then address another public meeting at 2.30 pm at Huzurabad in Karimnagar district. On the same day, he would address another public meeting at Sircilla district. This meeting would be for the constituencies of Sircilla and Vemulawada. Later in the evening, he would address a meeting at Yellareddy Constituency in Kamareddy district.

On November 21, the TRS chief would address public meetings in Jadcharla, Devarakonda, Nakrekal and Medak. He would address public meetings in Khanapur, Ichhoda (Boath Constituency), Nirmal, Mudhole and Armoor on November 22.

The Chief Minister would take part in six constituencies on November 23 by addressing meetings in Narsampet, Mahabubabad, Dornakal, Suryapet, Tungaturthy and Jangaon. He is slated to address public meetings on November 25 in Tandur, Parigi, Narayanpet, Devarakadra, Shadnagar and Ibrahimpatnam.

KCR would be using helicopter during his campaign and would stay in the district where there is public meeting during night. The next day, he would travel to nearest constituency by road and use helicopter during day time, said TRS leaders.