Sonia Gandhi to address first election rally in Telangana today, will Congress reap benefit?

Zee Media Bureau/Supriya Jha Hyderabad: Five years after she committed to separate statehood for Telangana in Karimnagar`s Ambedkar Stadium, Congress president Sonia Gandhi will seek to reap the dividends from the electorate of Andhra Pradesh when she will address an election rally in the same stadium on Wednesday.

It will be Sonia`s first major election rally here after the passage of Statehood Bill in February. Tight security arranagements have been made in Karimnagar district for Sonia Gandhi’s rally at Ambedkar Stadium today, which is the same place where Congress President had promised to make separate Telanagana state a reality in 2009. Congressmen in Telanagana are counting on Sonia`s rally as the party`s prospects in the region are weaker than that of the TRS and the TDP-BJP alliance, if pre-poll surveys are to be believed. Dismayed by backtracking of TRS on its promise of merger with Congress, and mass exodus of its key members, the Congress sems to be in a lose-lose situation after its decision to grant statehood to Telangana. Sonia will seek to galvanise the masses in Congress favour by reminding them that it was Congress which made the separate statehood possible. However, Chandrababu Naidu`s TDP which is coming along with the BJP, might take the cake away. Not less important is Telangana Rashtra Samithi andn its head K Chandrashekhar Rao, who is predicted to gain majorly. Andhra which is holding simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly, has 42 Lok Sabha seats and has been crucial for Congress` wins in 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha elections.