Ahead of 'Mother of All' CWC Meets, Telangana Congress Tells Locals 'Sonia Amma' Granted Them Statehood

For the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Friday, the Telangana unit of the party has been reminding people how it was Sonia Gandhi who granted them statehood and how they now ought to pay back the debt to her. United Andhra Pradesh was split into Telangana and residuary Andhra Pradesh in 2014 when the Congress was in power. Though TRS (now BRS) leader K Chandrashekar Rao became the chief minister of the new state, the Congress never stopped stressing on the role of Sonia Gandhi in fulfilling the aspirations of the people. Now that she is arriving in the capital city for the CWC meeting on Saturday, the need to honour ‘Sonia Amma’ who took the tough decision of carving out a new state is being stated more.

In one of the promotional videos for the Vijayabheri Sabha to be held at Tukkuguda on September 17, Sonia Gandhi is seen saying: “Years ago, a separate state of Telangana was created. I too played a role in making that happen.” This clip is followed by footage of Parliament proceedings in 2014 during which the Speaker says, “The Bill (AP Reorganisation Bill) is passed.” The captions accompanying the posters also say: “Let’s settle the debt for mom.”

In his recent speeches, Telangana Congress president A Revanth Reddy has been reminding people how Sonia Gandhi listened to them and granted a separate state, and how the ruling BRS destroyed it in the last 10 years. September 17 also happens to be the day the then Hyderabad state was annexed to India and in that too, the Congress party had played a major role. The Congress state unit is going to highlight the role of the party in both the annexation of Hyderabad and the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

The CWC meeting will be attended by top national leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Mallikarjun Kharge, and others. At the Vijayabheri Sabha, the Congress will also be announcing its 5 Guarantees for the state ahead of the assembly elections.

The deification of Sonia Gandhi as ‘Telangana Thalli’ is not new. When the state was carved out in 2014, Secunderabad Cantt MLA P Shankar Rao built a bronze statue of the Congress leader in the avatar of a goddess. The statue, which resembled Sonia Gandhi, had an ear of corn in one hand and a platter of grains in the other.