Congress alone is responsible for carving Telangana, asserts Sonia Gandhi

"The Congress alone is responsible for carving Telangana as the 29 th state of the Indian Union and the party is the only one capable of providing responsible governance in the new state ensuring social justice to all sections of society," asserted the Congress president Sonia Gandhi at a rally in Karimnagar in the heart of the region on Wednesday.

In a speech, describing the role of the Congress in getting separate statehood and deprecating the role of other parties, including the TRS, the AICC chief tried to bring the people of the region in favor of Congress by reminding them repeatedly that it was Congress which made the separate statehood possible. Although party Vice-president Rahul Gandhi is spearheading the pan-India election campaigns this time, Congress president Sonia Gandhi decided to take charge in Telangana to cash in on the positive image she had built for herself by backing the carving out of Telangana.

The Congress is clearly presenting the reorganisation of Andhra Pradesh as the focus of its campaign in Telangana and claiming near total credit for fulfilling the aspirations of the people of the region for over six decades.

Sonia Gandhi emphasized the role of the party in bringing forward the Telangana Bill in parliament and pointed out how it was opposed by the BJP, the TDP and the YSR Congress at various stages even before its introduction in the Lok Sabha. " We take people with us and do not talk in the threatening and menacing manner in which the TRS does," said the AICC chief. She pointed out that the phase for struggle for statehood was over and appealed to the people of the region to help the Congress in leading the gigantic tasks for development of the new state.

"We have kept our promises and will continue to keep them by unveiling several development initiatives. This includes the need to create additional power generation capacity of 4,000 mw for the region," said Gandhi. Her first election rally in the region, which goes to the polls on April 30, comes in the backdrop of a bitter war of words between the Congress and the TRS which are the major contestants.

Several of the 16 Lok Sabha contestants and about 50 seeking election on the Congress ticket to the first Telangana legislative assembly attended the rally in a show of strength. This is her first visit to Telangana after she kept her promise of creating Telangana. When she campaigned at the same venue - Ambedkar Stadium - on April 7, 2009, the AICC president had announced that her party had no objection to concede Telangana if it were to be returned to power in the 2009 polls.

Karimnagar has emerged as a battleground yet again between the Congress and the TRS as each is claiming full credit for the creation of Telangana state. Interestingly, the TRS chief K.Chandrasekhara Rao began his electioneering from Karimnagar on Sunday - April 13.

This is the fifth time Sonia Gandhi is addressing an election rally in Karimnagar. She has made it to a point to campaign in Karimnagar in every election since she took charge of the Congress party in 1987.

Congress activists in Telanagana are hoping Sonia's rally will turn the tide in their favour as the party's prospects in the region are weaker than that of the TRS and the TDP-BJP alliance, according to pre - poll surveys.

"The entire Telangana thanks her for enabling them realize the dream of separate statehood," says the Congress candidate and sitting MP Ponnam Prabhakar, who is seeking re- election from the Karimnagar constituency. He defeated his nearest TRS rival by a margin of over 50,000 votes in 2009. Now, his rivals are ex- MP Vinod Kumar of the TRS and the ex - minister of state for home Ch. Vidyasagar Rao of the BJP. The TDP is not fielding a contestant as it is in an electoral alliance with the BJP.