New Delhi: Union, Culture, and Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy, who is also a Member of Parliament from Secunderabad, announced that the Centre is ‘officially’ going to celebrate September 17 as 'Telangana Liberation Day'.
This comes as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded that the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government officially celebrate 'Telangana Liberation Day'.
The saffron party which is eying to form government in the state has announced that it would hold a public meeting at the historic Parade Grounds of Hyderabad on September 17 as part of the Telangana Liberation Day celebrations.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, and Chief Ministers of Karnataka and Maharashtra Basavaraj Bommai and Eknath Shinde have been invited to the mega event in Hyderabad.
On 17 September 1948, the Nizam-ruled Hyderabad was merged into India after ‘Operation Polo’, a military operation launched by the then Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Since then, the date has been celebrated as 'Telangana Liberation Day'.
The BJP has also planned a year-long ‘Telangana Vimochana Dinam’ celebration.
In a recent public meeting in Munugode, Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah alleged that the K Chandrashekar Rao-lead TRS government is not celebrating Telangana liberation day due to the ‘fear’ of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi.
"They promised that they will celebrate Telangana Liberation day in September. However, KCR govt did not fulfill their promise," Amit Shah said in Nalgonda last month, as quoted by news agency ANI.
Later, in Warangal, BJP national president JP Nadda called CM KCR the "new nizam" of Telangana.
Notably, Telangana is set to get to polls in December 2023, before that the state will witness an assembly bypoll in Munugode where there is a direct faceoff between BJP the and the TRS.
The by-election is necessitated following the recent resignation of sitting Congress MLA K Rajagopal Reddy. He had quit saying only the BJP can end the family rule of TRS in Telangana.
Rajagopal Reddy had resigned from his post on August 8 and the bypoll should be held within six months. The schedule for the bypoll in Munugode assembly constituency has not yet been announced.
(With Agency Inputs)