Hyderabad: September 17 was marked in different ways by the ruling and Opposition parties and other organisations across the state on Saturday. While some parties like the BJP and Telugu Desam celebrated it as ‘Liberation Day’, the TRS and others marked the occasion as ‘Hyderabad merger day’.
The BJP slammed Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for failing to keep his promise of conducting official celebrations after achieving statehood.
“KCR failed to keep his promise that he would celebrate the event in a grand manner after attaining statehood and coming to power,” said Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya, participating in Liberation Day celebrations at Ramanthapur organised by Uppal MLA N.V.S.S. Prabhakar. A statue of Sardar Patel was unveiled on the occasion.
Dattatreya asked the people, including students, to write letters to the TRS chief asking him to organise celebrations officially next year. The BJP organised celebrations on a grand scale since the day also happens to be Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday.
Earlier, the BJP leaders accorded a grand welcome to National BJP president Amit Shah at Shamshabad airport where a Swachh Bharat programme was organised.
Brushing aside BJP criticism, home minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy, who unfurled the National Flag as part of the Hyderabad Merger Day celebrations at Telangana Bhavan, said that the TRS demanded official celebrations but never promised to do it!
He said that since then Hyderabad functioned like any other India State and participated in all the elections. “Since Telangana got a raw deal in undivided AP, we fought and achieved separate state. We will continue to fulfil the aspirations of the people and attend to their needs,” the home minister said.
Elsewhere, TS TD leaders L. Ramana, Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy and others participated in the celebrations at the party office. CPI national secretary K. Narayana, state assistant secretary P. Venkat Reddy and others observed it as Telangana Armed Struggle anniversary at the party’s state office.
