Telangana: Ram Nath Kovind's voters want separate meetings

Hyderabad: Different political parties in Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh which pledged support to NDA Presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind will be organising separate meetings when he visits both states on July 4 as part of his national campaign.

As per schedule, Mr Kovind will arrive here on July 4 morning and stay at Haritha Plaza near the Chief Minister’s camp office.

The Telangana State BJP will conduct a meeting either at Jal Vihar on Necklace Road or at a convention centre where Mr Kovind would meet the five TS BJP legislators and the lone MP to seek their support.

“We don’t know what the TRS is doing and where, but we will be convening a meeting with our party legislators. Telugu Desam legislators may also join the meeting,” BJP Legislature Party leader G. Kishen Reddy told this newspaper.

He said the Telugu Desam may not join the meeting with BJP public representatives if the TRS was present.

TRS sources said that since had the largest contingent consisting of more than  than 90 legislators and 15 MPs, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was planning to host a separate meeting for Mr Kovind to canvass.

The Chief Minister on his return from Delhi will finalise the details of the meeting and its venue, said a senior TRS leader.

Mr Kovind on July 4 evening will visit Vijayawada to seek the support of the Telugu Desam and the BJP from the state. It is most unlikely that the YSRC would attend the meeting.

“We do not have any information about a joint meeting being organised by the TD. All YSRC legislators and MPs along with party president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy would meet Mr Kovind in Hyderabad,” party Rajya Sabha member V. Vijay Sai Reddy said.

“There is no place in Vijayawada earmarked for the party for us to invite him,” Mr Reddy said.