Home Minister Amit Shah will address a public meeting of the BJP, half a km from the venue of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s rally on Saturday, at Munugode on Sunday in a reflection of the show of strength by the TRS and BJP.
A senior BJP leader said the party hoped to mobilise a crowd larger than that of the TRS meeting. Like the TRS, the BJP will launch its campaign for Munugode byelection with the rally though it was scheduled solely to admit former Congress MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy into the party.
Mr. Shah’s engagements when he arrives by a BSF aircraft at the Begumpet airport at 2 PM include visit to Ujjaini Mahankali temple at Secunderabad right away and the house of a BJP worker in Sabhamurthi Nagar.
He will then leave for his hotel suite at Begumpet and take a BSF helicopter from the airport to Munugode. After an hour-long meeting with CRPF officers locally, Mr. Shah will proceed to the public meeting and then visit Ramoji Film City on his way back to city. He will then go to Novotel Hotel at Shamshabad airport for meetings with BJP leaders and dinner before leaving for Delhi by the BSF aircraft.
BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh issued a press release saying the public meeting of Mr. Shah was aimed to mobilise public support to end the corrupt and dynastic rule of Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao.
He said the TRS meeting at Munugode was evidence of the frustration of Mr. Rao after Mr. Shah’s programme in the village was finalised. It was a moral victory for the BJP.
Meanwhile, BJP State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar suspended his padayatra for a day to be with Mr. Shah throughout his engagements. The padayatra had reached a village near Station Ghanpur.