Venugopal in Hyderabad to review arrangements for CWC meet, rally

Hyderabad, Sep  (IANS) AICC general secretary (organization) K. C. Venugopal on Wednesday reviewed the arrangements for the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting and the public rally scheduled to be held in Hyderabad on September 16-17.

Venugopal, who arrived in Hyderabad on Wednesday evening, visited Gachibowli stadium, one of the venues being considered for the public meeting.

The Congress party has already sought permission for Parade Grounds or LB Stadium. It is also looking at Gachibowli Stadium as a possible venue in case permission was not granted at Parade Grounds or LB Stadium.

Venugopal along with AICC In-charge for Telangana Manikrao Thakare, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Revanth Reddy and other leaders visited Gachibowli Stadium.

The party is also considering an open place near E-City at Tukkuguda on the city outskirts as another possible venue for the public meeting.

With this public meeting to be addressed by party president Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, the party will sound the poll bugle in Telangana.

The Congress said it would announce its five guarantees for poll-bound Telangana as it did successfully in Karnataka. The announcement will be made on September 17, the day on which Indian armed forces took control of the princely state of Hyderabad in 1948. A charge sheet against the BRS government will also be released on the same day.

The newly constituted CWC will hold its first meeting on September 16 at Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC). There will be an extended meeting of the CWC on September 17, which will be attended by all the CWC Members, PCC Presidents and the CLP Leaders.

The party is holding a key meeting in Hyderabad after more than 15 years.

Meanwhile, TPCC held an extended meeting on Wednesday in connection with the CWC meeting, public rally and the programmes to be organised on completion of one year of Bharat Jodo Yatra. Manikrao Thakare asked the state leaders to make the programmes successful.

In another development, the party's Screening Committee decided to hold another meeting to finalise the list of party candidates for submitting the same to the party’s central leadership.

The Screening Committee headed by K. Muralidharan has been holding meetings for the last three days with PEC members and other leaders to elicit their opinion about the applicants.

Muralidharan, members Jignesh Mevani and Baba Siddiqui met PEC members separately. They also held meetings with several senior leaders.

Thakare said the Screening Committee will hold more meetings to compile the recommendations of the leaders.

The Screening Committee will finalise the list and send it to the party's Central Election Committee (CEC) for approval.