Congress's 15,000-strong Delhi march stalls as trains are refused and buses find few taker

Telangana's Congress unit has run into a logistics problem ahead of its November 1 rally in Delhi against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The party had planned to carry 15,000 leaders and workers from the state to the capital, but the list of willing travellers has reportedly shrunk to fewer than 5,000.

The first setback came when the South Central Railway declined to arrange special trains for the contingent. With rail off the table, the party turned to buses. That option has struggled to attract takers. The road journey is expected to take close to two days, with halts planned at Adilabad, Nagpur and Agra, and many prospective participants are said to prefer a train or a flight over a long coach ride.

Air travel is not a easy fallback either. Airfares are reportedly too steep for the party to cover on a scale of this size, which leaves the mobilisation drive without a cheap, fast option. Even among the reduced group, convincing people to board the buses is said to take considerable persuasion.

The episode is a useful reminder that a rally is only as strong as its turnout. Enthusiasm for opposing the electoral roll revision may be high among the party's rank and file, but turning that sentiment into seats on a bus is a different test. For a party trying to show street-level strength on a national issue, a thinning passenger list is a visible signal that needs to be addressed quickly.

What happens next will depend on whether the party can make the road trip more appealing, through better arrangements or a clearer sense of purpose for the journey, or whether it accepts a smaller contingent. Either way, the November 1 rally will be judged not only by the speeches in Delhi but by how many people actually make it there.

Read the original report: Deccan Chronicle

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