Telangana Chief Minister and BRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao is all set to address 41 public rallies in just 17 days starting from 15 October even as his long absence from public life due to ill health remained a topic of animated debate for BJP leaders in the state.

A tentative schedule released by the chief minister’s office revealed that he would be covering back-to-back rallies every day, sometimes addressing three rallies a day barring the last few days of Navratri and Dussehra.

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Rao, who was last seen on the day of Ganesh Puja when his office posted photographs of the chief minister before the Ganesh idol at Pragathi Bhavan, had first suffered from viral infection followed by a secondary infection. In his absence, his son and BRS working president KT Rama Rao and nephew and finance minister T Harish Rao looked after the affairs of the party and the government.

During the period, a massive rally at Warangal slated to be held on 16 October was quietly cancelled.

However, BJP leaders, particularly Karimnagar MP and party’s national general secretary Bandi Sanjay Kumar, raised questions over the absence of the 69-year-old chief minister time and again and demanded regular updates on his health. Even yesterday at an Adilabad rally, he raised the issue and even insinuated that his son KT Rama Rao had something to do with his absence.

The chief minister’s office issued a tentative but hectic itinerary of KCR, as he is popularly called, suggesting that he is on the mend. Starting with a rally at Husnabad on 15 October, he will hop from one rally to another till 9 November when he will file his twin nominations, first at Gajwel, and then at Kamareddy where he will address a public rally.

The chief minister will be holding two rallies each on 16, 17and 18 October including at Sircilla and Siddipet, the two constituencies represented by his son KT Rama Rao and nephew T Harish Rao.

After a weeklong break for Navaratri and Dussehra, he will resume his public rallies on 26 October, attending three rallies on most of the days. Although he will be visiting Gajwel to file his nomination, there is no mention of a public rally at his constituency till 9 November. However, he is likely to address his constituents in the second leg of the campaign.

Harish Rao was seen monitoring the preparations for the chief minister’s rally on 17 October in Siddipet.

Elections in Telangana are scheduled to be held in a single phase on 30 November.