BJP flays TRS govt for not celebrating "Hyderabad liberation

Renewing its demand for state celebration of "Hyderabad Liberation Day" on September 17, the day the Hyderabad state merged with the Indian union in 1948, the BJP in Telangana on Thursday it would take steps for holding the event if the TRS government did not come forward.

Telangana BJP president K Laxman hit out at Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and asked why the sacrifices of Telangana people (in the fight against theNizam rule) were being 'mortgaged' to "majlis" (AIMIM of Asaduddin Owaisi) now.

He also said BJP planned to organise a public meeting on the day here and invite Union Home Minister Amit Shah to highlight the cause.

Addressing a gathering at the BJP office here, Laxman alleged the TRS government "is mortgaging self-respect of Telangana people to the Majlis by taking the Hyderabad liberation day lightly.

BJP has been campaigning for several years for celebrating September 17 as "Hyderabad Liberation Day". It has promised it would celebrate the day if the party came to power.

It has accused the TRS of not celebrating the day due to vote bank politics and under the influence of AIMIM, an ally of the ruling party in the state.

Rao, who attacked the Andhra rulers during separate Telangana agitation for not celebrating the day, has ignored the matter after coming to power in separate Telangana, Laxman charged.

Today, I, as president of BJP, I am challenging the Chief Minister. For whose interests, why the sacrifices of Telangana great personalities are being mortgaged to Majlis now, he asked.

The Telangana people would be ready to politically bury the TRS if the state government tried to suppress Telangana history for appeasement politics, he said.

He warned the TRS government that BJP would take steps to celebrate the day if the TRS government failed to do so.

Laxman said he would try and invite Amit Shah on September 17 for a public meeting in Telangana and send out a message to the TRS government that BJP would come to power and celebrate the day.

He also said efforts would be made to highlight the issue nationally by organising events like seminars or exhibitions, including in Delhi.