Hyderabad, Oct 17 (IANS): Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao's election rally in Huzurnagar Assembly constituency was cancelled on Thursday due to rains, officials said.

According to Chief Minister's Office (CMO), the meeting was cancelled in view of the adverse weather conditions and heavy rains accompanied by lightning and storms in Huzurnagar.

The aviation authorities had also not given clearance for the chief minister's helicopter to take off from Hyderabad.

This comes as a setback to ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) campaign for the by-election scheduled on October 21. The party cadres were waiting for TRS chief's first election rally in the constituency.

The rally was also considered significant in view of the ongoing strike by the employees of state-owned Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC), which is being supported by all political parties.

The police had made massive security arrangements at the rally venue to prevent any untoward incident.

After cancellation of the rally, it was immediately not clear if KCR, as the TRS chief is popularly known, will campaign or not.

The by-election was necessitated by the resignation of state Congress chief Uttam Kumar Reddy from the Assembly following his election to Lok Sabha from Nalgonda constituency in the recent polls.

The by-election is likely to be a direct fight between Uttam Kumar Reddy's wife and Congress candidate Padmavathi Reddy and TRS nominee Saidi Reddy.

Communist Party of India (CPI), which had earlier declared its support to TRS, withdrew the same two days ago to protest the government's tough stand over the strike by TSRTC employees.