TDP women cadres in a jubilant mood at the ‘Yuva Galam Navasakam’ programme at Polipalli in Vizianagaram district on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: V. RAJU
All roads from the city led to Polipalli village in Bhogapuram mandal of Vizianagaram district, where the TDP organised ‘Yuva Galam Navasakam’, a public meeting marking the conclusion of the party national general secretary Nara Lokesh’s Yuva Galam padayara, on Wednesday.
The leaders, activists and sympathisers of the TDP and the JSP thronged the venue for the public meeting spread over 100 acres at Polipalli, approximately 40 km from Visakhapatnam city, since early morning as presidents of both the parties N. Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan shared the stage for the first time after both the parties announced their alliance for the forthcoming elections in Andhra Pradesh.
TDP MLAs, in-charges and leaders arranged special buses, vans, jeeps and auto-rickshaws to ferry the cadres, supporters and general public to the meeting venue. A large number of women supporters took part in the event.
Raising slogans for their parties and leaders, the TDP and JSP activists arrived at the venue as the roads spotted big banners and cut-outs of Mr. Naidu, Mr. Lokesh and Mr. Pawan Kalyan. Many sympathisers took out bike rallies to the venue.
The venue witnessed jubilant supporters dancing to the tunes of dhol and cultural programmes organised before the speeches of the leaders began. Women were seen taking selfies and uploading the photos on the social media platforms. Social media handles were abuzz with ‘Navasakam Begins’ hashtag.
Special trains were arranged to ferry the supporters from various places across the State. The trains reached Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam railway stations early in the morning. Many hotels in the city and Vizianagaram were occupied by the supporters of both the parties.
The road stretch between Vizianagaram to Polipalli, Tagarapuvalasa to Bhogapuram turned ‘yellow’ as banners and cut-outs of the TDP leaders and JSP chief Pawan Kalyan were put up. The TDP leaders said around five lakh people gathered at the venue and dubbed the vent as a “massive success”.
The National Highway was a chock-a-block before and after the meeting. Vehicular traffic came to a grinding halt on a stretch of about 4 km on the National Highway after the event, said a senior police official.
It took about four hours to reach MVP Colony, which normally takes about 40 minutes, said TDP and JSP supporters.