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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi will address election rallies in Telangana on Monday. The state sends 17 MPs to Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament.
Narendra Modi
Modi will address a public meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the L.B. Stadium in Hyderabad on Monday evening. This will be Modi's second visit to Telangana in four days. He launched the party's campaign by addressing a rally in Mahabubnagar on March 29.
The BJP is making elaborate arrangements for the meeting in Hyderabad as it will supplement the party's campaign for four Lok Sabha constituencies. It will be mobilising crowd from Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Malkajgiri and Chevella Lok Sabha constituencies.
Secunderabad was the only seat that the BJP won in the 2014 elections. This time the party has denied a ticket to outgoing MP and former Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya. The party has fielded G. Kishan Reddy, a former President of the party's state unit.
Rahul Gandhi
Gandhi will launch the Congress' campaign for the April 11 elections in Telangana by addressing the first rally in Zaheerabad on Monday.
Gandhi is scheduled to arrive in Hyderabad on Sunday night. Before leaving for Zaheerabad by helicopter, the Congress President will meet senior party leaders and the candidates to discuss election strategies. After the meeting at Zaheerabad, Gandhi will reach Wanaparthy to address another election rally. He will end the day with a third rally at Huzurnagar.
The meetings will cover Zaheerabad, Nagarkurnool and Nalgonda Lok Sabha constituencies. People from other neighbouring constituencies would also be mobilised for the meetings.
State Congress President Uttam Kumar Reddy, who is the party's candidate from Nalgonda parliamentary constituency, was personally monitoring the arrangements for the Huzurnagar meeting. Gandhi had addressed a public meeting at Shamshabad on the outskirts of Hyderabad before the announcement of the election schedule.
General elections
General elections are scheduled to be held in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to constitute the 17th Lok Sabha. The counting of votes will be conducted on 23 May, and on the same day the results will be declared.
Legislative Assembly elections in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim will be held simultaneously with the general election.
(With inputs from IANS)
