KCR’s birthday celebrated with fanfare

Mr. Rao avoided the glare by confining himself to his farmhouse at Erravelli village

The 68th birthday of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was no different from previous occasions as the leaders and cadre of Telangana Rashtra Samiti vied in the celebrations with pomp and fanfare across the State while Mr. Rao himself as usual avoided the glare by confining himself to his farmhouse at Erravelli village, 70 kms from here.

Leading the VVIPs in extending greetings to Mr. Rao were President Ramnath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi both of whom called him over phone and also tweeted. Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu, Chief Justice of India Justice N.V. Ramana and Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan sent letters and bouquets and Chief Ministers M.K. Stalin, Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy and Himanta Biswa Sarrma, former Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu greeted him by tweets.

The main celebrations took place here with Minister Gangula Kamalakar washing a 50 ft cut-out of Mr. Rao with milk amidst hundreds of TRS workers at Necklace Road. A long arm of crane was used to take the leaders to the top to pour down milk over the cut-out. Slogans hailing Mr. Rao rent the air.

Another major function was held at the TRS office where Minister Talasani Srrinivas Yadav organised the cutting of a 68-kg cake by lowering it on a platform from the high roof of the building. Sparkling light was emitted from the four corners of the platform as it came down to the table for completion of formalities. The crowded office reverberated with slogans in frequent spells as groups of people kept coming in and going out.

The celebrations were also held in districts with Ministers and other senior leaders cutting cakes and organising blood donation, poor feeding and prayers at temples, churches and mosques.

Mr. Srinivas Yadav and the Chief Minister’s daughter and former MP K. Kavitha offered jewellery to the presiding deity at the Ellamma temple in Balkampet.

Ms. Kavitha had a hectic time in the celebrations as she watched volleyball matches for KCR Cup at Lal Bahadur Stadium which was on till 2 a.m. Khammam district won a keenly contested final after which celebrations erupted.