YSR Congress honorary president Y.S. Vijayamma's homage to Telangana martyrs at the start of her address at a public meeting at Nirmal on Monday seems to have gone down well with the large gathering of people of Nirmal Assembly constituency.
The latter had earlier given her a rousing reception as she entered the district, this being her first ever visit to Adilabad, to admit former Adilabad MP A. Indrakaran Reddy and his supporters into the party fold.
The gathering, estimated to be between 15,000 and 20,000, waited patiently in the huge NTR stadium for over 4 hours for the event to unfold.
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This has been taken as an indicator of acceptance of the party by people amid a strong pro-Telangana sentiment.
Mr. Indrakaran Reddy, a senior Congressman and a Telangana protagonist in his own right, has given the YSR Congress a face in the district by joining it.
Being the first convener of the Telangana Congress Legislators' Forum, he has been expected to support the cause of the separate state during the coming days.
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Ms. Vijayamma talked about several irrigation projects taken up during Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s tenure as Chief Minister and vowed to complete all the projects if the YSR Congress party was voted to power.
The YSRC leader made a special mention of the Pranahita-Chevella project which was her late husband’s dream. She said that the government was not putting in proper efforts to get national status for the project.
Among those who joined the YSR Congress were former Adilabad District Cooperative Central Bank chairman Ramkishan Reddy, former Nirmal Municipal chairperson Appala Anuradha Mahesh and former Boath Market Committee chairman Tula Srinivas. Former Sirpur MLA Koneru Konappa has been slated to join the party at a public meeting at Kagaznagar on December 30.