Hyderabad: It will be neither ‘Maa Telugu Talliki Malle Poodanda’ nor ‘Jaya Jaya He Telangana’ which will be sung at the inauguration of the World Telugu Confe-rence at LB Stadium on December 15. The WTC will begin with the national anthem.
Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu will inaugurate the event while Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan and Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao will be the chief guests. Chief Minister K. Chandra-sekhar Rao will preside over the function.
During the Telangana statehood agitation, Mr Chandrasekhar Rao as the TRS chief had opposed ‘Maa Telugu Talliki’ saying there was no Telugu Talli, and termed it a conspiracy by the Andhra rulers. In its place he had introduced Telangana Talli and unveiled statues across Telangana.
Mr Rao is not keen on ‘Jaya Jaya He Telangana’ to be sung at WTC which inspired the statehood agitation, ostensibly as it mentions 10 districts against the 31 at present.
The previous WTC held in Tirupati in 2012 in undivided AP had started with ‘Maa Telugu Talliki’ after the national anthem was played. Ex-president Pranab Mukherjee had inaugurated the conference.
This time, as per protocol, the national anthem will be played before and after the inauguration of the conference.
A tree has been painted for WTC.
The issue took a political colour with the Con-gress demanding clarity from the CM whether state government would adore ‘Telugu Talli’ or ‘Telangana Talli’ at the WTC. It also demanded CM to tender an apology to ‘Telugu Talli’ for making adverse remarks during the statehood agitation if he garlands ‘Telugu Talli’ statue on the dais.
After a lot of debate, the CM finally decided not to rake up a controversy with either Telugu Talli or Jaya He Telangana songs. It was also decided that CM will garland Telangana Talli statue on the dais during the inaugural ceremony.
TRS whip in the Legilsative Council Dr Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, who was part of CM’s preparatory meetings for WTC, confirmed that only Telangana Talli statue will be set up on the dais, which will be garlanded by CM and neither ‘Maa Telugu Talliki’ nor ‘Jaya He Telangana’ will be sung.
