Before setting out on foot to meet farmers in Kodangal, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy stopped first at a temple — and the symbolism was deliberate. On Monday, 9 November 2026, the Chief Minister's Office of Telangana confirmed that Revanth Reddy offered special prayers to Renuka Yellamma at the Polepally temple in Dudyal mandal, Vikarabad district, seeking the goddess's blessings before beginning a padayatra to the 'Raitanna Atmiya Sabha' (Farmers' Intimate Gathering) at Lagcharla in Kodangal constituency.

Temple stop in Polepally, then on foot to Lagcharla

The CMO post, written in Telugu, states that the Chief Minister 'performed special pujas for Renuka Yellamma Ammavaru at Polepally in Dudyal mandal, Vikarabad district' and 'took the blessings of Polepally Ammavaru before departing on a padayatra for the Raitanna Atmiya Sabha in Lagcharla, Kodangal constituency.' Walking into a farmer event — rather than arriving by convoy — sends a pointed message in a district with deep rural roots.

The Renuka Yellamma shrine at Polepally holds strong devotional significance among communities across rural Telangana and neighbouring Karnataka. For a sitting chief minister to pause here before a major public programme is a well-understood gesture of local reverence — and a signal to the constituency's voters about where his priorities lie.

Kodangal and the Mega Rythu Mela connection

Kodangal is not an incidental stop. The assembly constituency in Vikarabad district has historically been a competitive electoral segment, and the Congress government's sustained rural outreach since taking office in December 2023 has kept it in focus. The Raitanna Atmiya Sabha is linked to the broader Mega Rythu Mela programme — a state-level farmer engagement initiative designed to put the government in direct dialogue with cultivators over welfare schemes and agricultural grievances.

Since the 2023 assembly elections, the Congress government in Telangana has rolled out multiple farmer interaction programmes, reviewing and expanding welfare measures inherited and promised during the campaign. Events like this one are the retail politics face of that larger effort: a chief minister on foot, in a mandal, at a local temple, before a gathering of farmers.

Padayatra as political grammar in Telangana

The padayatra format — walking through a constituency rather than motorcading — is a deliberate register in Indian state politics. It compresses distance between a leader and a voter, literally. Combined with a temple visit at a site of genuine local devotion, it frames the day's agenda as one of service and solidarity rather than a government event on a schedule. That grammar is well understood in Vikarabad, and Revanth Reddy is fluent in it.

What farmers actually hear at Lagcharla — and what, if anything, is announced under the Mega Rythu Mela banner — will be the real measure of the day.