Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi addressing a press conference during his padyatra in Maharashtra's Vidarbha.
In about a week, Rahul Gandhi will bring his tour of farmers' homes to Telangana, whose arrival as India's youngest state was facilitated by his mother, Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
Six years ago, it was the Congress-led Union government that made a surprise midnight announcement that the region of Telangana would be carved out of Andhra Pradesh as a separate state. This is Mr Gandhi's debut trip to the new state, which was born in June last year.
Since his return from a somewhat mysterious eight-week sabbatical in the midst of a volatile Parliament session, Mr Gandhi has led his party's initiative to highlight what it describes as the "anti-farmer" policies of the government. "Farmers feel abandoned," Mr Gandhi said yesterday after visiting the homes of farmers who committed suicide in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region.
In Telangana, he has reportedly asked Congress leaders to ensure that no undue fuss is made about his visit - no helicopter arrivals in or near villages or celebratory fireworks, for example. The party has been told that the arrangements for the 44-year-old Vice President must not over-shadow the focus on farmers' rights, and allow him to interact in the fields with them.
Sources say he is likely to spend May 9 and 10 in the drought-ravaged districts of Adilabad and Medak. The latter is the constituency of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, popularly referred to as KCR. Medak alone has reported nearly 100 of a total of 700 farmer suicides in Telangana since it was made a state.
KCR had also undertaken a hunger-protest, prior to the December 9, 2009 announcement by the Congress, that ultimately led to bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. His party had at that time targeted Andhra leaders for neglecting Telangana's development and pushing farmers to take the extreme step of suicide. Voters had overwhelmingly given KCR their vote, hoping the dreams he spoke about would come true, spurning the Congress.
Mr Gandhi's padayatra (walking tour) in Telangana is to be dubbed "
Rythu Atmagourava Yatra" (farmers' self-respect yatra).