HYDERABAD: A colourful parade by various police battalions marked the official Telagnana State Formation Day celebration at the Parade Grounds in Secunderabad on Monday.
Director-general of police Anurag Sharma had taken the salute from the police personnel at the venue, before chef minister K Chandrasekhar Rao arrived. After hoisting the national flag, the chief minister inspected the guard of honour and acknowledged the thunderous cheer from people in the galleries.
Later, he reviewed the march-past and the entire affair reminded one of the Republic Day parade. Missing were only the defence contingents and floats of various departments. At the end of the parade, the best and the second best contingents were presented with prizes. The 15th battalion from Mancherial in Adilabad district bagged the first prize and the IV Battalion from Warangal bagged the second prize. The parade was led by IPS officer N Prakash Reddy, The newly sworn-in ministers, KT Rama Rao, T Harish Rao and others _ who had arrived before the chief minister did _ were greeted enthusiastically by their relatives, friends and well-wishers. The ministers shared some lighter moments with their friends who were in the galleries.
On the other hand, people, who turned up in large numbers to hear the maiden speech of TRS chief as chief minister came in colourful attire. Some children came dressed like ‘Telangana Talli’ and some hardcore supporters of Telangana were seen sporting colourful hairdos.