TIRUPATI: Former Chief Minister and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu will share the dais with State BJP leaders for the first time after breaking the alliance with the saffron party before the 2019 elections, at Friday's Amaravati Parirakshana Mahodyamam public meeting at Damineedu in the temple town.
After facing defeat in the elections and being confined to just 23 Assembly seats, the TDP chief has been trying to cosy up with the saffron party but there has been cold response from the latter so far.
BJP senior leader Kanna Lakshminarayana will represent the party at the public meeting to be held under the aegis of Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi (APS), which is demanding that Amaravati be the sole capital of Andhra Pradesh.
While the TDP has been a vocal supporter of Amaravati as the only capital, the BJP too has extended its support to 'Nyayasthanam to Devasthanam Padayatra' taken out by the APS from Amaravati to Tirupati after Union Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to the State last month. State BJP chief Somu Veerraju and senior leader D Purandeswari and party MPs have also participated in the padayatra.
APCC working president N Tulasi Reddy, leaders of CPI, CPM and Andhra Intellectual Forum are going to attend the meeting. Meanwhile, APS leaders are making last minute arrangements for the success of the public meeting after the hurdles were cleared by the AP High Court.
The meeting will be held in 22 acres of land close to Gajalakshmi Green City at Damineedu on the outskirts of Tirupati. According to the APS leaders, they will hold the meeting from 1 to 6 pm as per COVID-19 protocol.
Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi says it is not a political meeting
On Thursday, the APS leaders performed ‘Bhumi Pooja’ at the public meeting venue. Amaravati farmers have assured that the meeting would be purely apolitical and it is meant to highlight only their demand for Amaravati as the sole capital.
With Rayalaseema organisations too planning public meeting in support of the three- capital plan of the State government on Saturday, the Tirupati urban police have tightened security. A huge posse of police personnel has been deployed at the venue to thwart any untoward incident.
“It is a not a political meeting. People from all sections are waiting to make the meeting a grand success. We have made all arrangements for the public meeting as per High Court’s directions. Farmers across Chittoor district and also from other parts of the State will participate in the meeting,’’ said Siva Reddy, president of Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi.