Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister-designate N. Chandrababu Naidu greeted Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao after he assumed office on Monday and invited him to his swearing-in ceremony to be held on June 8. He also invited 10 other non-Congress Chief Ministers.
Mr. Naidu, who spoke to Mr. Rao on telephone, later tweeted saying this was the first step towards working together. In another tweet, Mr. Naidu said: “Congratulations to the people of Telangana, KCR & his colleagues. Wishing them success & we will partner with them in development.”
The TDP president, who had earlier personally invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is learnt to have extended invitations to Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Goa, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Odisha, Nagaland and Gujarat. Besides, all the Union Ministers, NDA partners and leaders of various parties in the State, including YSR Congress Party chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy were being invited.
Participating in Telangana State Formation Day celebrations organised by Telangana unit of the Telugu Desam Party at NTR Bhavan here, he said the formation of Telangana State was the culmination of 60-year-old struggle and paid tributes to martyrs at a memorial erected temporarily at the party office.
He said the TDP was formed by former Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao to render justice to Telugus and recalled the welfare and development measures initiated by him. He said that NTR had abolished “patel, patwari” system and decentralised administration by introducing mandal system. TDP had never compromised on its anti-Congress stand.
Observing that NTR, by following a good tradition, had not put up a candidate against former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao when the latter had contested from Nandyal Lok Sabha constituency, Mr. Naidu said had PV not introduced economic reforms, the country would have remained more backward. He said he would strive to ensure that a memorial for PV was built at New Delhi.