Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu gave a clarion call to youth on Friday to play a vital role in politics, cleanse it from dirt and corruption and make India strong.

Mr Naidu was addressing an impressive gathering of youth and students at the party’s “Yuva Tharangalu” programme at Tirupati, attended by cadres of the Telugu Yuvata and Telugu Nadu Students Federation from the Rayalaseema districts and Nellore. Mr Naidu came down heavily on the Centre and state governments for indulging in high corruption. “Youth alone are going to provide the panacea for corruption in the country,” he said.

Mr Naidu asked the youth and students to make a door-to-door campaign and expose the scams of the Congress-led governments at the Centre and state. He said that 33 per cent of the seats in the ensuing elections would be allocated to youth.

“Generally, one needs to be the son of an MLA or minister to come into politics. But youth should take the example of Narendra Modi, Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati and me. We have all come up in politics by hard work and determination. You should be inspired by Swami Viveka-nanda, NTR, Ambedkar and Gandhi who all came from humble beginnings.”

Earlier, Mr Naidu, accompanied by a large number of youth and party cadres, took out a motorcycle rally from Padmavathi guest house to Rama Naidu Kalyanamandapam, the venue of the youth meet.

Party MLAs and MPs from the Rayalaseema region and Nellore district and senior party leaders took part in the event.