Shah to Mark Liberation Day, TS Stand Likely Today
Shah's September 17 visit to the state will be his second in less than a month
Hyderabad: The BJP government at the Centre is all set to celebrate the Telangana Liberation Day for the second time in a row in the state on September 17 with plans to hold the event in Warangal. Union home minister Amit Shah will be the chief guest at the celebrations, just as he was last year when the Union Government held the event for the first time at the Parade Ground.
Last year, while the Centre celebrated the day as the ‘Telangana Liberation Day’, the BRS-led state government marked the occasion as “Telangana Integration Day’.
Shah’s September 17 visit to the state will be his second in less than a month, after visiting Khammam on August 27. Though there is no word yet from the BJP if Shah will also be addressing the public this time, it is expected that he will address a gathering in Warangal after receiving a guard of honour from the Central security forces stationed in Telangana.
This year’s September 17, however, assumes additional significance with the state expected to go to polls for electing a new Legislative Assembly with elections likely in November or December. The BJP has been a staunch critic of the BRS government over what it calls the ‘reluctance of the KCR government to celebrate the Liberation Day’, and is expected to use the event in Warangal to buttress its argument that the BRS deliberately ignores the Telangana martyrs, who fought against the Razakars, and also use the occasion to take aim at the ties between the BRS, and the AIMIM, which the BJP says, is a descendant of the Razaakars.
While it is yet unclear if the state government will hold an ‘Integration Day’ event like it did last year, it is likely that an announcement on this could be made by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao at the concluding ceremonies of the state government’s ‘TS Swatantra Bharata Vajrotsavalu’ here on Friday.
The Congress, which is making an all-out effort to dislodge BRS from power, was earlier expected to hold a public meeting in the city on September 17 but there has been no official communication on this yet. A senior party leader said a decision could be taken in this regard in the coming few days.