Amit Shah to Arrive Today, Lead Liberation Day Celebrations Tomorrow

HYDERABAD: Union home minister Amit Shah will arrive in the city on Saturday evening amidst the ongoing meeting of the Congress Working Committee in Hyderabad. On Sunday morning, he take part in the September 17 Hyderabad Liberation Day celebrations at the Parade Ground in Secunderabad.

Shah’s visit will be the second in a row for the celebrations. He had addressed a meeting organised by Union culture minister G. Kishan Reddy, who is now state BJP president, for the first time last year at the same venue.

Shah, after receiving a guard of honour by contingents of central security forces and a march past by cultural troupes at the Parade Ground, will garland a statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India’s first home minister who led Operation Polo, the action by Indian armed forces in September of 1948 which led to the Seventh Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan, accepting defeat, resulting in the liberation of the then Hyderabad State and its subsequent merger with the Indian Union on September 17, 1948.

Though the BJP leaders are hoping for a meeting of state party leaders with Shah, party sources said no such meeting was scheduled. On reports that Shah was likely to meet with VIPs from the city including some sportspersons, a party official said it was a normal practice for Shah to meet with some personalities during his visits to various places, but no names were confirmed.

Shah, who will arrive on Saturday evening, is expected to stay at the CRPF guest house in the city and arrive at Parade Ground on Sunday morning and then depart from the city in the afternoon.