Parties intensify preparations for Telangana polls

Opposition Congress and its allies and the BJP intensified campaign and preparations Monday for the December 7 Telangana assembly elections.

Senior Congress leader and former deputy chief minister in undivided Andhra Pradesh C Damodar Rajanarsimha held meetings with party leaders in Delhi.

He said that SC, ST, and backward class leaders were invited for the meetings and that their winning chances and other election-related issues were discussed.

The Congress has formed an alliance with parties, including TDP, CPI and Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS) for the elections.

TDP supremo and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu held meetings with the party's Telangana unit members in Hyderabad Monday to take stock of the election preparations.

As part of BJP's preparations, Union Minister J P Nadda, partys incharge for elections in Telangana, is scheduled to address a constituency-level meeting Tuesday.

Meanwhile, ruling TRS MP B Vinod Kumar sought to counter the BJP leaders' criticism of party chief and caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, saying even Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several of his ministerial colleagues have hailed his governance.

Not only BJP ministers, but ministers in Congress-ruled states had also praised the implementation of welfare and development schemes by the TRS government, he claimed.

"I, myself, was witness when your Prime Minister Modi ji spoke about the governance of the Chief Minister in parliament, he told reporters.

TRS had announced candidates for 105 of the 119 assembly segments on September 6 when the assembly was dissolved prematurely and since then they have hit the campaign trail.