The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) succeeded in showing its might at Yuva Garjana, a massive public meeting held near Guntur and attended by lakhs of TDP workers from across the state. In fact, the TDP’s rally more than matched the recent rally of Praja Rajyam Party and that of Sonia Gandhi at Tirupati.There were more filmstars on the stage than political leaders, as the entire NTR clan, except Junior NTR, turned up in support of the party and N Chandrababu Naidu at a venue dotted with cutouts of NTR. Although, there is a difference of opinion within the NTR family over the choice of chief ministerial candidate with some family members wanting to project NTR’s son Balakrishna as the CM candidate rather than Naidu, they all spoke in support of the party and Naidu.The sprawling 150-acres ground near Acharya Nagarjuna University turned into a sea of yellow, the party’s colour, with thousands of TDP flags, posters and banners being carried by the workers. A large number of fans of actors Balakrishna and Harikrishna and NTR’s grandsons Kalyan Ram and Taraka Ratna turned up at the venue. To keep the massive crowd entertained, scenes from NTR’s popular films were played on gigantic screens. Vehicles used in the rally ended up blocking the Vijayawada-Guntur highway. The TDP leaders pledged to fight corruption and ensure social justice as well as protested against price rise. Naidu led the party’s workers in taking an oath to work for the party. Both Kalyam Ram and Taraka Ratna made their political debut at the meeting.
