Opposition Leader and Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu's convoy was on Friday revamped, with the squeaking old Ambassador cars being replaced with 8 gleaming new grey SUVs, including 2 bulletproof ones.
The Tata Safari SUVs were handed over to the TDP chief to form his convoy.
According to sources, the SUVs cost over Rs. 10 lakh each, and another Rs. 30 lakh was spent for bullet-proofing 2 of them.
Earlier, the state government had refused to replace the old Ambassador cars in the former chief minister's convoy, but finally conceded to the TDP's demand made on June 11.
The TDP had purchased 2 new Safaris for its chief, who is provided with 'Z' category security, as the government had refused to replace the old ambassadors in his convoy.
Naidu had to face some embarrassing moments due to his old Ambassador cars, which would fail at odd moments. They were considered unfit for long distance travel.
The 2 bulletproof Safaris will be for Naidu's use; 2 other Safaris would be for the use of Black Cat Commandos of the National Security Guards; one each for pilot, intelligence and patrolling; and one would be equipped with a signal jammer to neutralise remote control signals.