Sankranti sambaralu at AP secretariat, Rangoli decks up campus

Visitors to Secretariat, the nerve center of Administration of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on Thursday had a pleasant surprise. Women employees of the AP secretariat were busy making Rangoli designs in the carpeted grounds of the campus as part of the Sankranti festivities. Huge hoardings of the AP lady ministers- P Sunita, K Mrinalini,and P Sujata greeted the visitors to secretariat for the Sankranti sambaralu (Sankranti festivities) held in the premises ahead of the Sankranti festival beginning January 4 .

Rangoli, also known as Kolam or Muggu, is a folk art from India in which patterns are created on the floor in living rooms or courtyards using materials such as colored rice, dry flour, colored sand or flower petals. It's a known fact that in the coastal districts, politicians and police are at logger heads on conducting the popular Kodi Pandyalu (Cock-fights) after a court stricture against it .

The post bifurcation political bitterness between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh has deeply penetrated into the psyche of people of both regions and bears an impact on cultural and social ethos of both the regions.Though both the governments are in steep financial crisis (post farmers loan waiver burden), they had made special grants for official celebrations of Sankranti (AP) and Brathukamma & Bonalu (Telangana ).

The Telengana government led by K Chandrasekhar Rao had officialised the Brathukamma and Bonalu festivals and granted Rs

Two crore fund for each district to celebrate . Both in the Secretariat campus and also on the historic tank bund , the Telangana women employees performed Bathukamma and Bonalu dances. It is now more or less repetition of the same trend on the AP side of the secretariat All the car parking areas of the AP side have been decked up with glittering Rangoli (muggu) by lady members . 'About 300 women members are participating in the competition," says a Prabhavati spokeperson of the organizing committee.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is all set to participate in the official celebrations of Sankranti at Tirupati on January 14 more or less in the same breath as KCR did in Bathukamma. The AP Government has also declared three days general holiday for Sankranti and also declared Sankranti as official festival and organized festivities on a grand scale at every mandal district headquarters etc .'A sum of Rs. One crore per district has been sanctioned for the Sankranti Sambaralu at the rate of Rs.10,000 for each mandal' says P Sujata, the women empowerment minister

By Radhakrishna Gattu