It's the first such meeting called by a leader in Hyderabad.
A huge crowd of over a lakh people has gathered at Hyderabad's Lal Bahadur Shastri stadium for a 'united Andhra' meeting called by the YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy.
"Despite crops worth lakhs under water, you were sent by your mother, sister and brother back home. I thank them," he said to huge applause.
It's the first meeting organised by any political party to oppose the central government's decision to split Andhra Pradesh and create India's 29th state, Telangana.
''Bifurcation is a very important issue for everyone in the state, so we have to go ahead,'' the 40-year-old leader is reported to have told his party members after heavy rains in Hyderabad threatened his meeting.
It is also the first public gathering that Mr Reddy has addressed since he left jail late last month. He spent more than a year in prison after being charged with corruption. The CBI's investigation against him continues; he is out on bail but is not allowed to travel out of Hyderabad.
The Andhra Pradesh High court allowed the meeting to be held between 2 to 5 pm on the condition that Mr Reddy will not deliver a 'provocative' speech and no rally would be taken out before and after the meeting.
Attempting to project his party as the sole champion of a 'united Andhra', the YSR Congress chief has accused both Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu of betraying the people of Seemandhra - the regions of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, which are vehemently opposed to splitting Andhra Pradesh.
The Telangana Rashtriya Samithi leader K Chandrasekhar Rao has said that since the constitutional process for the bifurcation of the state has already begun, his party is not worried about Jagan Reddy's meeting.