Celebrate September 17 as T Liberation Day: BJP chief

• Amit Shah arrives on two-day visit to Hyd
• Meeting with grassroots workers, leaders

Hyderabad: BJP National President Amit Shah on Thursday called upon the party workers to celebrate Telangana Liberation Day on September 17 on a grand scale.

Addressing a meeting of party workers and leaders here, he said the BJP should take the importance of the Liberation Day to a new level and work for rejuvenating the party in Telangana. He said Gujarat and Telangana have close relationship as it was the Iron man of India Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who made the Nizam surrender and merged Telangana with India. He said Hyderabad would have taken more time to surrender but for the sheer dedication and sagacity shown by Sardar Patel who saw merger of 650 princely states in India. He called upon the party workers to reach out to the masses in villages and bastis and bring about greater awareness about the history of Telangana.

Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would take forward the legacy of Sardar Patel and see that every State in the country developed fast. He said the party was committed to development and transformation of Telangana into one of the best States in the country.

Asserting that Southern states would play a crucial role in forming the government at Centre in the next elections, he held that the Telangana BJP unit should play major role in bringing back BJP to power at centre.

The BJP president blamed the Congress for its 'divisive politics', which had created more discord between the people of the two States.

He said that the bifurcation of Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh was more of a peaceful process, where people celebrated the separation on both sides.

Shah said that the party was firm that it should emerge a major political force in Telangana during General Elections in 2019.

He would meet the village units presidents and other party workers on Friday and explain the measures to be taken to strengthen the party in the State.