BJP yatra to demand celebration of Hyderabad State's merger

Telangana BJP president K Laxman today launched a week-long yatra to highlight the demand for officially celebrating the day when the Hyderabad State merged with the Indian Union nearly 69 years ago.
The Hyderabad State, then under Nizam rule, was merged with the Indian Union on September 17, 1948 following the intervention of the country's first Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Patel.
Laxman kicked off the yatra after paying homage to Patel and those who sacrificed their life for achieving separate Telangana state.
He would visit places of significance in the history of freedom movement in Telangana during the yatra.
The TRS government in Telangana is not officially celebrating the day under pressure from the AIMIM (a Hyderabad -based party led by MP Asaduddin Owaisi)), he alleged.

The BJP would make the TRS government celebrate the day the way Patel forced the Nizam to merge his princely state of Hyderabad with the Indian Union, Laxman said.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is expected to attend a public meeting proposed to be organised by the Telangana unit of BJP on the issue.