Rahul Gandhi's Telangana tour kicks off next week, to meet farmers

HYDERABAD: Extending his outreach to farmers, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will embark on a two-day tour of Telangana on May 11, wherein he would undertake a 'padyatra' (foot march) and interact with farmers in Adilabad district.

Gandhi would stay at Nirmal in the district on May 11 night and start his foot march the next morning, Telangana Congress president N Uttamkumar Reddy told reporters here tonight.

The Congress vice president would arrive at the international airport here at 4 PM on Monday and interact with the students' leaders of Osmania University, who have been agitating on employment issues, for about 10 minutes.

Gandhi would then proceed towards Nirmal. His 'padayatra' would begin at Vadiyala village at 7 AM on Tuesday, wherein he would cover the distance of 15 km and also console the families of farmers who have allegedly committed suicide due to agrarian distress in Telangana.

He will address farmers at Koratikal village at around 3 PM and return to Hyderabad after the event, and would leave for Delhi by 8.15 PM, Reddy added.

Prior to his visit to Telangana, Gandhi had agressively raised farmers' issues in Parliament and also reached out to farmers in Punjab and Maharastra.

Telangana opposition parties Congress, TDP, BJP and others alleged that hundreds of farmers have committed suicide due to agrarian crisis since the TRS government came to power last year, a charge denied by the administration.