Namaste Telangana

About Namaste Telangana

Namaste Telangana — published as Namasthe Telangana — is a Telugu-language daily newspaper published from Hyderabad, Telangana, and the newspaper most closely associated with the movement for a separate Telangana state. Launched on 6 June 2011 by Telangana Publications Pvt. Ltd., it was founded as the media voice of the statehood agitation at the height of the campaign to carve Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh. The paper's slogan, "Mana Patrika... Mana Atmagauravam" ("Our Newspaper... Our Self-Respect"), has been carried on its pages since its founding. With more than 3,00,000 copies sold daily, it ranks as the third-largest newspaper in Telangana after Eenadu and Sakshi. Its official website is ntnews.com. In June 2026 the paper celebrated 15 years of continuous publication, an occasion marked by anniversary greetings from BRS working president K. T. Rama Rao, who described it as an "akshara aayudham" — a weapon of words — born to amplify the aspirations of Telangana's people.

The Telangana Statehood Movement and the Paper's Birth

Namaste Telangana was born out of a specific political moment. By 2011 the agitation for a separate Telangana state — a demand with roots stretching back to the 1969 movement — had reached its peak, intensifying between 2009 and 2014. Supporters of statehood argued that the existing Telugu press did not reflect the issues and aspirations of the Telangana region, and that the movement needed a newspaper of its own. The launch of Namaste Telangana answered that demand: it was conceived explicitly as a newspaper by the people of Telangana, for the people of Telangana and of the people of Telangana, to voice their concerns, aspirations and ambitions. The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act of 2014 formally created the state of Telangana on 2 June 2014, fulfilling the core demand around which the newspaper had rallied public opinion.

The Launch on 6 June 2011

The paper was launched on 6 June 2011 at a function in Hyderabad that itself carried symbolic weight: it was inaugurated by the parents of students who had allegedly died by suicide in support of the separate statehood demand. K. Chandrashekar Rao, the president of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now the Bharat Rashtra Samithi) and the political leader of the statehood campaign, was the chief guest. Rao told the gathering that the paper should truly be a people's newspaper, and, responding to a request from one of the speakers, announced that an Urdu newspaper exclusively for Telangana would also be brought out by the group. The daily hit the newsstands the following day, 7 June 2011, covering all ten districts of the Telangana region as it then existed — Adilabad, Hyderabad, Khammam, Karimnagar, Mahaboobnagar, Medak, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Rangareddy and Warangal — with seven editions and an estimated initial print run of over seven lakh copies.

Ownership and the Founding Team

Namaste Telangana is published by Telangana Publications Pvt. Ltd. The founder, chairman and managing director is Divakonda Damodar Rao, who has led the company since its inception. The launch team was headed by Katta Shekar Reddy as chief executive officer, responsible for planning, coordination and administration, with V. Narayanan as vice-president of sales and marketing. The editorial team was initially led by the senior journalist Allam Narayana as editor-in-chief. C. L. Rajam served as chairman and managing director from October 2011 to 1 July 2014, after which the reins returned to Divakonda Damodar Rao. The paper is widely reported to be owned by K. Chandrashekar Rao, the former chief minister of Telangana and founder of the TRS/BRS, which led the political campaign for statehood.

Editorial Leadership Over the Years

The paper's first editor, Allam Narayana, set its tone as an unapologetic voice of the Telangana cause, telling reporters at the launch that the slogan for separate statehood had lived in the hearts of the Telangana population through the region's 60-year history, and that Namaste Telangana emerged from that urge for freedom. The editorial leadership has since passed to Thigulla Krishna Murthy (also rendered T. Krishna Murthy), who as editor has described the paper as the voice and force of the people of Telangana, committed to voicing the concerns of Telanganaites and ensuring that the voice and opinions of the people of Telangana reach the government and policymakers on a daily basis. Columnists associated with the paper have included Katta Shekhar and R. Vidyasagar Rao.

Editions and Circulation

Namaste Telangana is published from seven locations: Hyderabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Warangal, Khammam, Nalgonda and Mahbubnagar, covering all the districts of Telangana state. With daily sales exceeding 3,00,000 copies, it is the third-largest newspaper in Telangana, after Eenadu and Sakshi — a remarkable position for a paper that began as a movement organ. The paper's English-language sister publication is Telangana Today, published by the same group. The combination of a Telugu daily and an English daily gives Telangana Publications a presence in both of the state's principal newspaper languages.

Editorial Character and Political Alignment

The paper's editorial character has been defined from the outset by its origins in the statehood movement. It was designed to be different from the existing Telugu dailies: political news with a Telangana tinge, alongside sports, business, cinema, features and a Sunday magazine, produced with what its founders promised would be superior technology, quality and content. The paper's stated motive is to enrich the people of Telangana with verified content on current affairs, the economy and politics, culture and traditions, education and entertainment, business and agriculture — and, in the words of its founder, whatever it does, it does for the welfare and good of the people of Telangana. Its alignment with the BRS and the statehood cause has made it both influential and, to its critics, partisan.

The Slogan: "Mana Patrika... Mana Atmagauravam"

The paper's enduring slogan — "Mana Patrika... Mana Atmagauravam," meaning "Our Newspaper... Our Self-Respect" — encapsulates its founding proposition: that the Telangana region deserved a press of its own, free from what statehood supporters saw as the Andhra-centric bias of the established dailies. The slogan has appeared on the paper since its first editions and was invoked again in the 15th-anniversary greetings of June 2026, when K. T. Rama Rao congratulated the management, editorial team, journalists and the district- and mandal-level correspondents who carry the paper's reporting across the state.

Digital Presence: ntnews.com

Namaste Telangana's official website, ntnews.com, carries the paper's daily journalism online in Telugu, extending its reach to the Telangana diaspora and to readers who prefer digital news. The website reproduces the paper's coverage of state politics, district news, business, cinema and sports, and serves as the digital face of the brand that began as a seven-edition print launch in 2011. In a media environment where the Telugu press has moved aggressively online, ntnews.com keeps the paper competitive with the digital operations of its much larger rivals.

The 10th and 15th Anniversaries

The paper celebrated its 10th foundation day on 6 June 2021, an occasion on which founder-chairman Divakonda Damodar Rao reaffirmed that the paper had been the voice of the people of Telangana and would remain so, describing its motto as being the bridge between the people and policymakers. Five years later, on 6 June 2026, the 15th anniversary drew greetings from the highest levels of the BRS leadership. K. T. Rama Rao's message — that the paper was founded to make the voice of Telangana's people heard, to proclaim the desire for a separate state, and to demolish the conspiracies of those opposed to Telangana — restated the paper's founding myth for a new generation of readers.

The Paper Today

Fifteen years after its launch, Namaste Telangana has outlived the movement that created it and established itself as a permanent institution of the Telangana press. The state it campaigned for exists; the paper that campaigned for it continues to publish daily from seven centres, to sell over three lakh copies a day, and to define itself as the bridge between Telangana's people and its policymakers. Its journey from a movement's mouthpiece to the state's third-largest daily is one of the most striking stories in contemporary Indian regional journalism — a newspaper that was launched to win a state, and stayed to cover it.