Modi, Rahul to address public meetings in Telangana on April 1

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi will address rallies in Telangana on April 1 as the campaigning for the April 11 Lok Sabha elections in the state enters a feverish pitch.

Modi, who launched his campaign in the state on March 29, would address a public meeting at the LB Stadium here on April 1 evening in support of the candidates of the BJP, which is
contesting the 17 Lok Sabha seats on its own.

Gandhi will be on a whirlwind visit to the state on April 1, addressing three election rallies at Zaheerabad, Wanaparthi and Huzurnagar. With just ten days left for polling, BJP president Amit Shah and partys other top leaders, including Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Nitin Gadkari, are also expected to campaign for the party nominees in coming days, state BJP spokeserson Krishna Saagar Rao told news agencies on March 31.

Having suffered a humiliating defeat in the assembly polls in December last (winning only one among the 119 seats), BJP is hoping that Modis popularity would help it put up a
better showing. After its shock defeat in the assembly polls, Congress is seeking to salvage the situation with a decent performance in the parliamentary elections.

Congress in Telangana is facing a crisis with 10 among its 19MLAs announcing their decision this month to leave the party and join the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). The has made a head start in campaign with its working president KT Rama Rao participating in hectic campaign for about a month now.

TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, the partys star campaigner and crowd puller known for his fiery speeches, is set toaddress campaign rallies in the run up to the polls.

Claiming that neither NDA nor UPA was in a position to form government on its own post-Lok Sabha elections, TRS has been appealing to the electorate to make the party win 16 of the 17 Lok Sabha seats (leaving Hyderabad represented by its ally AIMIM) to play a crucial role at the Centre and ensure funds and development projects to Telangana.