N T R Jr. to canvas T D P

HYDERABAD: The TDP has decided to launch a full fledged multi-pronged election campaign from March. The 40-day non-stop campaign would begin with Junior NTR hitting the road from Srikakulam district. This pulls down the curtain on speculations that Jr NTR was upset with Naidu and hence will not campaign for the party. Jr NTR on Sunday held a meeting with his fans and discussed with them on the role they have to play during his campaign and the manner in which they have to coordinate with TDP cadre. According to sources, Jr NTR would first visit Nimmakuru in Krishna district, the village of his grandfather N T Ramarao and will unveil the statues of NTR and Basvatarakamma. The tour schedule would soon be finalised and along with that the line he needs to take during campaign will also be decided. Later he will launch his campaign from Srikakulam and would cover coastal, Rayalaseema and Telangana region. Jr NTR has a huge fan following in coastal and Rayalaseema belt for his roles in faction oriented films. He has also imbibed the oratorical skills of his grandfather, NTR, who was the legendary figure in Telugu film industry. Balakrishna, another scion from the NTR family, who is currently on his first phase campaign, would take up phase-II simultaneously in March. The party president N Chandrababu Naidu will also go round all the 294 assembly constituencies from another direction. The three-pronged campaign would ensure that TDP would complete three rounds of campaign in 40 day time, party sources said. -T O I