: Lambasting the TRS government in Telangana for not celebrating the Hyderabad Liberation Day, Union Minister Prahlad Joshi on Tuesday called it the "most shameful" act and alleged it was due to the 'vote bank' politics of the ruling party and the 'influence' of AIMIM.
Dubbing the Asaududdin Owaisi-led AIMIM as the 'remote' that controlled the 'car' (TRS symbol) of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Joshi, a senior BJP leader, said only when the saffron party comes to power in the state, the liberation day can be celebrated officially.
He was speaking after hoisting the national flag a the BJP's Telangana headquarters here as part of the party's state-wide annual celebration the Liberation Day on September 17, when the erstwhile Hyderabad state merged with the Indian Union in 1948.
Joshi, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, said TRS had promised before coming to power that it would hold official celebration of the merger day and expressed surprise at its present stand.
He said it was an official function in Karnataka and Maharashtra, parts of which were under the erstwhile Hyderabad state, but in the headquarters of Nizam where the agitation was initiated, the Liberation Day was not being celebrated by the government.
"It is due to vote bank politics, the TRS government is hesitating in officially celebrating Telangana Liberation Day and it is most shameful... because, Majlis (AIMIM) is riding in KCR's car. This is the problem," he said referring to the friendly ties between the two parties.
Alleging that AIMIM was controlling the TRS, he said: "The cars steering may be in KCR's hand but the remote is in Majliss hand.The remote has to be ousted and also the steering should be taken in our hands, then only we can celebrate Telangana Liberation Day. We have a long way to go and we are ready to struggle."