HYDERABAD: BJP state president K Laxman has appealed to the Centre to accord national festival status to Sammakka-Sarakka Jatara, a tribal festival held once in two years at Medaram in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district of the state.Led by party’s national general secretary P Muralidhar Rao, Laxman met several Union ministers, including Tourism Minister KJ Alphons, and submitted a representation seeking national festival status to the jatara.
“As tribal people not only from Telangana but also from AP, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra visit Medaram for the jatara, the festival deserves to be declared as a national festival”, Laxman said. He also wanted the tourism ministry to identify Kotilingala-Dulikattu-Phanigiri-Nelakondapalli-Kondapur and Gajulabanda as a Buddhist tourism circuit and sanction funds for its development. He met Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and sought declaration of Hyderabad-Adilabad National Highway 44 and HN 63 as economic zones.