Congress Alone Liberated Telangana, Twice: Uttam

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president and Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy today asserted that it was the Congress and the Communist parties that were instrumental in the struggle for Hyderabad's merger with the Indian Union.

Speaking after hoisting the national flag at Gandhi Bhavan on the 71st anniversary of Hyderabad's merger, Reddy said that it was ridiculous that BJP leader Ram Madhav, who hailed from Andhra Pradesh, was speaking about Hyderabad Liberation Day despite the fact that neither the BJP nor its predecessors had participated in the struggle against the Nizams at all.

He said that only the Congress and the Communist parties had plunged into the struggle for Hyderabad's merger, and had made supreme sacrifices in the process. He pointed out that the last Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan had refused to merge Hyderabad State into the Indian Union and had wanted to either join Pakistan or stay independent, and that the merger of Hyderabad with the Indian Union through Operation Polo was thanks to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, both INC leader.

The TPCC chief said that the BJP leaders were aware of the history but were trying to distort it for political gains. But history could not be changed and no one should try to distort it for whatever reason, he said.

He also claimed that it was the Congress that accorded statehood to Telangana in 2014. Neither the BJP nor the Sangh Parivar had played any role either in Hyderabad's merger or in the formation of Telangana State, he claimed.

Reddy also said that the Congress had been celebrating Hyderabad's merger every year since 1949. He said that the Congress cadre were celebrating the merger all across Telangana even today by hoisting the national flag at the various district headquarters.

Congress senior leaders including K Jana Reddy, Ponnam Prabhakar and Kusum Kumar were present on the occasion.

Later, Uttam Kumar Reddy participated in a function organised by Congress leader G Niranjan at the Telangana Martyrs' Memorial at Koti. Congress leaders V Hanumantha Rao, Shashidhar Reddy, Vishnuvardhan Reddy and Kodanda Reddy, Telangana Jana Samithi president M Kodandaram and several freedom fighters also attended the function.