Congress president Rahul Gandhi to offer worship at Tirupati, address rally today

On Friday, Rahul Gandhi arrived at Renigunta airport and was received by Congress' Andhra Pradesh in-charge Oommen Chandy and former AP chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy.  Congress president Rahul Gandhi will offer worship at the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala. Speaking to news agency PTI, AICC Secretary C D Meyyappan said that Rahul will land at the Renigunta airport in Tirupati in the afternoon on Friday and reach the hills by road.

After offering worship, he will come down to address a public meeting at Taraka Rama Stadium, Meyyappan, who is also in charge of Andhra Pradesh, said on Thursday. “In the rally, Rahul Gandhi would speak on the Special Category Status to the bifurcated Andhra Pradesh and other issues facing the nation,” he added.

Rahul Gandhi had earlier appointed six AICC secretaries for Uttar Pradesh --three each attached to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyotiraditya Scindia. Priyanka Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia were appointed AICC general secretary in-charge of UP East and UP West respectively in January and took charge earlier this month.

Zubair Khan, Kumar Ashish, and Bajirao Khade were named as AICC secretaries attached to Priyanka Gandhi, a party statement said. It said Rana Goswami, Dhiraj Gurjar, and Rohit Chaudhary were named as AICC secretaries attached to Scindia.

Prakash Joshi and Naseeb Singh were relieved from their duties as AICC secretaries, the statement said. Priyanka Gandhi and Scindia held a series of discussions with party workers last week in Lucknow, with at least one session lasting through the night.

The Congress is trying to revive itself in the state where it faces a challenge from the Bharatiya Janata Party as well as from the alliance of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party.