Chandrababu Naidu leaves for Khammam to address public meeting

Hyderabad: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President N. Chandrababu Naidu left for Khammam town in a huge convoy from Hyderabad to address a public meeting on Wednesday evening.

Naidu began his journey after paying tributes to TDP founder and former chief minister N.T. Rama Rao at his statue at Rasoolpura in Begumpet.

Scores of leaders and workers were accompanying Naidu, who will reach Khammam by road.

This will be the first public meeting to be addressed by Naidu in Telangana after the crushing defeat in Assembly elections in 2018.

The meeting is seen as an attempt by Naidu to revive the party in Telangana. The party became dormant in the state after both of its MLAs joined Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) last year.

The TDP had won only two seats in 119-member Telangana Assembly in the 2018 elections. The party had contested the polls in alliance with the Congress party and won Ashwaraopeta and Satthupalli Assembly seats, both in Khammam district.

As TDP is still believed to have considerable support in Khammam district, Naidu decided to hold the public meeting there to begin its efforts to revive the party.

Last month, Kasani Gnaneshwar was appointed as the new president of TDP’s Telangana unit.

In Khammam, TDP has made large-scale arrangements for the public meeting at Sardar Patel Stadium. The party workers will welcome Naidu with a bike rally. Hoardings, flexis and banners have come up across the town.

The TDP is mobilising people from 25 Assembly constituencies including 10 constituencies from united Khammam district for the public meeting.