Hyderabad: Stepping up its campaign for State celebration of Hyderabad Liberation Day (17 September), the BJP in Telangana held a round table event here with academicians and others.
The erstwhile Hyderabad State of Nizam merged with the Indian Union on 17 September 1948, and the BJP has been demanding that the day be celebrated as Liberation Day. State BJP president K Laxman, who was the chief guest at the event on Wednesday, said the party was preparing a plan of action to mount pressure on the stubborn TRS government to accept its demand.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had demanded official celebration of the liberation day during the separate Telangana agitation, the BJP leader said and wanted to know why he (Rao) was now not keen on it.
“Why is Rao going back on his word… Why does he fear Majlis (AIMIM) so much,” he asked. The BJP that has been campaigning for official celebration of the day for several years now has often alleged the Rao government was not accepting the demand due to “vote bank politics” and under the influence of AIMIM, a friendly party of TRS.
The issue concerned the self-respect of Telangana, Laxman said adding Home Minister Amit Shah “who is being hailed as another Iron Man with the abrogation of Article 370 granting special status to Jammu and Kashmir” would attend a public meeting to be organised by the party this year. BJP would celebrate the day officially once it came to power in the State, he added.