Sonia Gandhi to attend Telangana Formation Day celebrations

Hyderabad, May 30 (IANS) Top Congress leader Sonia Gandhi will attend the Telangana state Formation Day celebrations in Hyderabad on June 2.

She will participate in the main official event to be held at Parade Grounds, Secunderabad and address the gathering.

The office of Telangana Chief Minister received a confirmation in this regard on Thursday.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy visited New Delhi on May 28 to personally invite the former Congress President.

He had stated after the meeting that Sonia Gandhi in principle agreed to attend the event.

The State Cabinet had recently taken the decision to invite Sonia Gandhi to Telangana Formation Day celebrations and felicitate her for the key role played by her in the formation of the state.

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy had announced that state Formation Day will be celebrated on a grand scale with programmes both in the morning and evening.

The Chief Minister will pay tributes to martyrs at Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial at Gun Park on June 2 at 9.30 a.m. He will then proceed to Parade Grounds, where he will unfurl the national flag. There will be a parade and march past by police contingents with the Chief Minister taking the salute.

According to a statement from the Chief Minister’s office, "Jaya Jayahe Telangana" will be unveiled as the state anthem.

Sonia Gandhi will address the gathering and this will be followed by the Chief Minister’s speech.

Police personnel and best contingents will be presented with the awards.

In the evening, formation day celebrations will be held at Tank Bund, where stalls of Telangana handicrafts, specially made items and food will be set up. The Chief Minister will visit the stalls at 6.30 p.m.

This will be followed by an attractive cultural carnival, reflecting various art forms of Telangana. About 700 artists will participate in the carnival.

There will be cultural programmes and dances for about 70 minutes. After the stage show, a flag walk will be conducted from one end of the Tank Bund to the other end. About 5,000 people will participate in it. During the flag walk a full version of the ‘Jaya Jayahe Telangana’ anthem (13.30 minutes) will be played.

Poet Ande Sri, who penned the anthem and music director M. M. Keeravani, who composed the music, will be felicitated.

The celebrations will conclude with fireworks over Hussain Sagar for 10 minutes.