In a bid to strengthen party's base in southern India ahead of the assembly polls and to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party’s surge, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi is on a visit to Telengana, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
Rahul addressed a rally near Hyderabad on Thursday and will attend the birthday celebrations of DMK president M Karunanidhi at Chennai on 3 June.
The birthday celebrations will also be attended by other national leaders such as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, Trinamool Congress parliamentary party chief Sudip Bandhopadhyay, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI leader D Raja and Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy.
On 4 June, Rahul will address a joint-rally at Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, along with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and leaders of the Left parties. This rally will be attended by leaders of seven to eight opposition parties.
On Thursday, Rahul attacked the Central government over the state of education in the country, land acquisition rules and falling GDP. He blamed the NDA government for its alleged failure in implementing the Land Acquisition Act.
“People of Telangana are not getting what they had dreamed of and we would like to give them that,” Rahul said.
Rahul also held a public meeting at Sangareddy and unveiled the party's promises for 2019 elections.