HYDERABAD: A day after UPA presidential candidate Meira Kumar’s visit to the city when she could not make even telephonic contact with TRS president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, NDA’s presidential candidate Ramnath Kovind met the leaders of two non-NDA parties to garner their support.
Rao, who avoided Meira Kumar, hosted a lavish reception for Kovind here on Tuesday. Not just TRS MLAs and MPs, who constitute the electorate, but also the party’s ZP chairmen and other elected public representatives were asked to participate in the grand reception which obviously pleased Kovind.
Kovind was accompanied by Union ministers M Venkaiah Naidu and Bandaru Dattatreya. Naidu heaped praise on Rao for extending his party’s support to the NDA even before the BJP announced the candidate.
Another non-NDA party which extended its support to Kovind is YSRC. The YSRC had three MLAs and one MP in Telangana but all of them defected to the ruling TRS. However, all the YSRC MLAs and MPs (both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha) from Andhra Pradesh were asked to come to Hyderabad for Kovind’s campaign.
I was happy to see that the TRS erected hoardings welcoming me. I am also elated that Rao addressed the gathering in Hindi Ramnath Kovind, NDA’s presidential candidate