Hyderabad: The Telangana State Congress started Praja Chaitanya Yatra, a bus yatra, from today covering six districts of the state. Today after the noon prayers at Nampally Dargha and kicking off the yatra, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) chief Uttam Kumar Reddy said that they had invited Congress president Rahul Gandhi for this yatra and he has accepted their invitation.

It is learnt that Rahul Gandhi was keen to participate in the bus yatra and will join the team that is touring the districts through the Praja Chaitanya Yatra. Earlier it was decided that Rahul would attend only the June 1 public rally that is being planned by state Congress party. TPCC chief said it was an afterthought to invite Congress president for the bus yatra. He was to participate in the June 1 rally, but we had invited him for the bus yatra also since it would build the morale of the party cadre in the state, Uttam Kumar Reddy mentioned.

Though Rahul has accepted to participate in the bus yatra it is not yet clear whether he will participate before the Parliament budget session or after. But the sources at the Gandhi Bhavan are enthusiastic about the news of Rahul's participation. The Congress president will participate in the bus yatra or not, he will definitely be at the June 1 rally that will be held either at Hyderabad or Warangal.

DK Aruna Padayatra

It is raining padayatras in Telangana Congress. Mallu Battivikramarka, Ponnam Prabhakar and Revanth Reddy were already given green signal by party leadership in Delhi and they have hit the road. Joining the bandwagon is former minister DK Aruna and she plans to do padayatra from Alampur to Adilabad.

It is learnt that she will very soon seek permission from Delhi for the walkathon. She has already approached Telangana Congress state in-charge Kunthia who has suggested her to take approval from AICC.