Declare Medaram Jatara as national festival

New Delhi: Telangana state BJP leaders, led by its president K Lakshman and party's national general secretary Muralidhar Rao, met several Union Ministers here on Friday urging them to declare Sammakka-Saralakka (Medaram) Jatara a national festival

Addressing the media later, Lakshman said they brought to the notice of the ministers that the festival was a favourite of the tribals of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra apart from those from Telangana.

Crore of tribals would be attending the festival in the interior forest area once in two years and hence the Centre should take a special interest in bestowing a right stature on the festival.

The delegation sought development of Buddhist sites in Telangana like Kotilingala, Dhoolikarba, Phanigiri, Nelakondapalli, Kondapur and Gajulabanda as a circuit in its meeting with Union Tourism Minister Alphonse.

Similarly, in their meeting with Union Minister for Roads and Highways Nitin Gadkari, Lakshman sought declaration of Hyderabad-Adilabad national highway as an economic corridor.

Ring Roads for the tows of Khammam, Karimnagar, Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda and Adilabad towns, an express highway between Hyderabad-Vijayawada and logistic park in Nizamabad and Warangal were some other proposals presented.

On the strengthening of the party, he said his party was beefing up its booth committees and would wage an all-out war against the ruling TRS for its misrule.