Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on a padyatra in Telangana
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, who arrived in Telangana last evening, has begun a 15-kilometre
padyatra or trek through five villages, each of which has seen a farmer suicide in the last year.
On Thursday, Mr Gandhi drove in from Nanded in neighbouring Maharashtra, instead of landing in Hyderabad in a last-minute change of plans. He then drove to Nirmal in the drought-struck district of Telangana, about 200 kilometres from capital Hyderabad.
700 farmers have killed themselves in the last 10 months in Telangana.
Hundreds of party workers have joined Mr Gandhi on his
padyatra. This is the Congress leader's first visit to Telangana after the new state was formed by carving it out of Andhra Pradesh in June last year.
Mr Gandhi, who returned from a two-month sabbatical abroad earlier this month, has declared war on the ruling BJP over its land reforms, which he calls anti-farmer. He has, since his return, visited distressed farmers in Punjab and Maharashtra too.
His party, reduced to a virtual non-entity in last year's state election, has prepped hard for the visit. The road from the Hyderabad airport to Nirmal was lined with posters and cutouts welcoming him to India's youngest state.
It was the Congress-led union government that agreed in 2009 to the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh to form Telangana. But as the other parts of the state roiled with a violent backlash, the government put its decision on hold, a grave miscalculation for which it was heavily punished in both the residuary and new state.
Andhra Pradesh voted the Congress out and opted for the Telugu Desam Party.
Telangana picked K Chandrasekhar Rao or KCR's Telangana Rashtra Samithi, which was galvanised by the Congress leader's plans into sending state government representatives on Tuesday to meet with and offer help to some of the families of farmers shortlisted for a Rahul Gandhi's visit today.