HYDERABAD: Union Home Minister Amit Shah was given a grand welcome by BJP State President G Kishan Reddy and other party leaders upon his arrival at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on Saturday to attend the Telangana Liberation Day celebrations at the Parade Ground in Secunderabad on Sunday.
Later in the evening, Shah met badminton champion PV Sindhu and her father at the CRPF Sector’s Officers Mess at Jubilee Hills as part of the “Sampark Se Samardhan” initiative on Saturday night. Kishan was present at the meeting.
Shah has been scheduled to review the parade of the central paramilitary forces at the Parade Grounds at 9 am on Sunday. He is expected to have an unscheduled meeting with Kishan, BJP general secretary Bandi Sanjay and party MLA Eatala Rajender on Sunday before departing from the RGI Airport in the afternoon. He is expected to discuss the party’s plans for the Assembly elections, and also the CWC meeting held in the city.
Kishan reviews arrangements
On Saturday, Kishan reviewed the arrangements for the parade and public meeting at the Parade Ground. Addressing the media, he said that central paramilitary forces, including the CRPF, CISF and COBRA, will take part in the parade.
The union minister said that artists from Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana -- all regions that were part of the erstwhile Hyderabad State -- have been invited to perform, and rural art forms will also be showcased on the occasion.
Disclosing that a virtual exhibition showcasing the “liberation movement” will be organised by the Ministry of Culture, Kishan said that postal covers dedicated to freedom fighters Shoaibullah Khan and Ramji Gond will be released on the occasion, and the family members of the freedom fighters have been invited.
Condemning a circular alluding to the official programme as “a party programme of the BJP”, he demanded an apology from the police officers who issued the circular.
‘Congress hid facts’
Terming the Congress as “the first traitor of Telangana” which he claimed deliberately hid facts with regard to the liberation struggle for all these decades for playing politics to appease the descendants of Razakars, Kishan said that the Congress had no moral right to conduct CWC and ‘Vijayabheri’ public meetings in Hyderabad.