The Telugu Desam Party, which celebrated its 27th Foundation Day on Saturday, vowed to get the “classic language status” to Telugu and rename the new international airport at Hyderabad after its founder N.T. Rama Rao. Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu, who visited NTR's Samadhi to pay his tribute to the film actor turned politician, recalled the circumstance in which NTR had launched the regional party on March 29, 1982 and led it to power within nine months. “NTR had entered politics to serve the poor and fulfill the aspirations of the people. His entire political life was dedicated to the people,” Naidu told party workers and supporters. He also unveiled a bronze statue of NTR at the party headquarters. “No individual today commands that charisma and respect which NTR had,” the party president said. He rued that while Tamil Nadu fought and got the class language status for Tamil, no such effort was made by the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh. He vowed that his party will continue its fight till it achieves its goal and get the Telugu language recognized as a classic language. Naidu came down heavily on the Congress government for naming the international airport after Rajiv Gandhi. “The seed for the new airport was sown by the TDP and NDA governments. But instead of naming it after NTR, the present government named it after Rajiv Gandhi. After we come to power, we will rename it after NTR”, he declared. On the occasion of 27th anniversary of launching of the party, Chandrababu Naidu held a meeting of senior party leaders to discuss the internal situation of the party in view of the murmur of discontent, and chalk out the strategy for dealing with major challenges like the demand for Telangana state, upcoming by-election to the assembly and Lok Sabha seats and the proposed party of film star Chiranjeevi.Early showers Andhra Pradesh is experiencing premonsoon showers much ahead of their scheduled arrival in second week of April. At a time when usually the state witnesses searing summer heat and high temperatures, many parts of the state are either receiving heavy rains or are under the shadows of dark clouds on account of premonsoon showers, the weather office said. __
