Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Tuesday lashed out at Opposition parties BJP and BRS over the bickering on whether 17 September should be celebrated as liberation day or integration day. He argued that the Congress government has appropriately celebrated the day as people’s governance day to reflect the aspiration of the public.

After unfurling the national tricolour on the occasion of Praja Palana Dinotsavam at Public Gardens here, the CM slammed the Opposition pointing out, “This was the day when in 1948 people dethroned Nizam to usher in democracy. There is no scope for politics. It would be foolish if anyone tried to derive political advantages from the entire episode of the Telangana armed struggle. The people’s government strongly felt that it was wrong to dilute the sacrifices of the martyrs by calling the historical occasion as” Merger or Liberation Day.”

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He went on to say that the geographical shape of Telangana on the map was akin to a closed fist symbolising resistance and the spirit of unity of all races and castes. Without naming the BJP, he the party for trying to take political advantage over 17 September and thereby undermine the unity of the state’s people.

He also accused the previous BRS regime of equating their family with that of Telangana. As the Congress and the BRS were engaged in a bitter struggle over the statue of Telangana Talli the chief minister listed out how the state’s cultural legacy was abandoned under K Chandrasekhar Rao. He claimed to have started a cultural renaissance after coming to power by designating “Jaya Jaya he Telangana Janani”, a song associated with the Telangana struggle as the official song of the state and changed the abbreviation from TS to TG and finally named the various institutions after the martyrs.

He also lashed out at the BRS for criticising his frequent visits to New Delhi reminding them of the sobriquet ‘farmhouse chief minister’ which was used for KCR. “Some political forces are criticising my Delhi tours. I am not a farmhouse chief minister to stay at home. I am a hard-working chief minister. I am not going to Delhi for my selfishness or personal work. Delhi is not Pakistan or Bangladesh… I will go to Delhi many times in future to claim the state’s share from the taxes,” he asserted.

Meanwhile, at Secunderabad Parade Ground Union Minister of Coal Mines G Kisan Reddy presided over the Hyderabad Liberation Day programme organised by the Centre and slammed BRS and Congress for succumbing to vote bank politics and erasing history. There was a marchpast by the central armed police and a colourful performance by cultural artists of Telangana.