Kudos to you, KTR ! Rahul Gandhi is indeed political tourist to Telangana

HYDERABAD: Kudos to you, KTR. You are spot on. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi lives up to your observation. He has never failed to disappoint. He has always reinforced the charge that he’s a ‘political tourist’ as you have always said that the national leaders of your opposition parties - the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party.

For now, let’s focus on Rahul Gandhi who has done a lot of tourism in Telangana during his many visits.

As latest as on October 18, Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra enjoyed the splendour of Ramappa Temple, a UNESCO-recognised monument in Mulugu district.

They were taken round the ancient temple by professional tourist guides Vijay and Venkatesh. The siblings first offered prayers to Ramalingeswra Swamy (Rudreswahwarudu). Before addressing a “Vijaya Bheri” public rally at Ramnjapur in Venkatapur mandal soon after arriving at Palampur where the Ramappa Temple is situated.

Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka visited every corner of the temple enjoying the architectural splendour of the monument. They witnessed the 850-year-old ‘high heels’ sculpture, ‘sapta swara’ sculpture, three-person-four-leg structure, dance mandapam, ‘ashta dikpalakas’, sculptures of elephants that point to all the directions, Nandeeshwara sculpture.

He did not stop at that. He called in his personal photographer and videographer and took pictures and videos. He went a step ahead and made a video call to his mother, Sonia Gandhi, and showed the architectural marvel of Nandeeshwara statue. He evinced interest in eliciting information on the history, when the temple was built and how many people worked on it, under whose rule it was built, etc.

In fact, the Bharat Jodo Yatra he had undertaken was in itself designed with dual purpose of “Bharat Darshan”. During his visit to Hyderabad as part of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, he had unfurled the National Falg at the historic monument Charminar. Soon after arriving there from Laad Bazar Road, he had stopped for a while to take a look at the edifice and captured its beauty in his camera. He also covered Necklace Road and PV Ghat during the ‘Yatra’.

Way back in April 2009, Rahul Gandhi indulged in food tourism in Hyderabad. He had satiated his taste buds by eating steamed dosa, idli and sweet lassi. He asked for the bill and had paid from his pocket at Chutneys eatery in Punjagutta of Hyderabad. This he did by breaking the security preparation when he had come to Hyderabad for election campaign when Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

Four years prior to this, Rahul Gandhi had visited the famous ‘Paradise’ restaurant to savour the popular Hyderabadi Biryani in the night of Thursday, September 23, 2015. He went there around 9 pm to Paradise Persis Gold Restaurant on the Sarojini Devi Road in Secunderabad. He had enjoyed the delicacies of Special Mutton Biryani, Chicken Kabab, and Chicken 65. For dessert, he savoured Hyderabad special ‘Kubani ka meetha’. Even here, he had insisted and paid Rs. 1,300 bill in cash.

Rahul Gandhi has an eye for tourism wherever he goes. There have been umpteen occasions when he had enjoyed the tourist jaunts abroad also.

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K T Rama Rao has always hit out at the leaders of the Congress and the BJP who visit the State as political tourists. And, some of them proved that their visits had pilgrim spots and tourist attraction dovetailed in t heir itinerary. Rahul Gandhi lives up to this fully.