Hyderabad, Aug 28 (PTI) Stepping up its campaign for state celebration of Hyderabad "Liberation Day" (September 17), the BJP in Telangana on Wednesday held a round table event here with academicians and others.

The erstwhile Hyderabad state of Nizam merged with the Indian Union on September 17, 948 and BJP has been demanding that the day be celebrated as Liberation Day.

State BJP president K Laxman, who was the chief guest at the event, said the party was preparing a plan of action to mount pressure on the stubborn TRS government for accepting its demand.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had demanded official celebration of the liberation day during the separate Telangana agitation, he said and asked why he was now not keen on it.

Why is Rao going back on his word... Why does he fear Majlis (AIMIM) so much, he asked.

BJP, which has been campaigning for official celebration of the day for several years now, has often alleged that the Rao government was not accepting the demand due to "vote bank politics" and under the influence of AIMIM, a friendly party of TRS.

The issue concerned the self-respect of Telangana, Laxman said adding Home Minister Amit Shah "who is being hailed as another Iron Man with the abrogation of Article 370 granting special status to Jammu and Kashmir" would attend a public meeting to be held by the party this year.

BJP would celebrate the day officially once it came to power in the state, he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)