Telangana Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka has been undertaking a padayatra for the past 107 days.
Despite the severe heat conditions during the summer, he persevered and fell ill multiple times due to the scorching heat. His padayatra is scheduled to conclude in three days on July 2.
Bhatti's padayatra has received a positive response from the people.
It has helped establish him as a prominent leader at the state level and a potential candidate for Chief Minister if Congress comes to power in Telangana in the upcoming Assembly polls scheduled for December this year.
Previously seen as a leader confined to Khammam district, Bhatti's position in the Congress has been elevated to that of a state-level leader, thanks to his padayatra.
After toiling hard for nearly 110 days in the scorching heat, Bhatti planned to culminate his padayatra with a grand public meeting in Khammam on July 2, in the presence of senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
He even named this public meeting "Telangana Praja Garjana" (Roar of Telangana People).
However, TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy, who aspires to become the CM of Telangana if Congress wins the Assembly polls this year, is rumored to have played spoilsport in order to undermine Bhatti's padayatra.
At this stage, Revanth intervened and convinced former Khammam MP Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, who belonged to the BRS (Bahujan Rajyam Sangharshana Vedika), to join Congress along with numerous local BRS leaders during the public meeting in Khammam on July 2, in the presence of Rahul Gandhi.
Revanth successfully persuaded Rahul Gandhi to participate in the joining program of BRS leaders into Congress in Khammam on July 2.
As a result, Bhatti's padayatra culmination event transformed into a "BRS joinings program."
The entire media and public attention shifted from Bhatti's padayatra to the joining of BRS leaders.
The buzz in Congress circles is that Bhatti is extremely angry with Revanth for diluting his padayatra in the name of BRS joinings.
Bhatti perceives this entire episode as a conspiracy by Revanth to undermine his chances of becoming CM and project himself as the sole CM candidate if Congress comes to power in Telangana this year.