Telangana secretariat inauguration deferred due to poll code

The Telangana government on Saturday said the inauguration of the state's new secretariat which was scheduled on February 17 has been postponed owing to the poll code. The Election Commission on February 9 released the schedule for two seats of the Telangana Legislative Council, along with 13 seats of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council.

The ECI which announced that notifications for these elections will be issued on February 16, had said the model code of conduct for these elections would come into force with immediate effect in the constituencies concerned. Polls for the Mahabubnagar-Rangareddy-Hyderabad Teachers’ constituency and Hyderabad Local Authorities’ constituency will be held on March 13.

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"As the election Code is in place, the Chief Secretary held consultations the Election Commission about the inauguration of the Secretariat scheduled on February 17. As the response from the ECI was not promising, the inauguration has been postponed for now. The next date will be announced," an official release from KCR’s office said. Rao had laid the foundation stone for the construction of new Secretariat building here at the existing location near Hussain Sagar Lake in June 2019.

The complex coming up in about seven lakh square feet is in its final stage of completion. After the grand inauguration of the secretariat on February 17, which also happens to be Rao’s birthday, the BRS party wanted to hold a grand public meeting. An official release had earlier said Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, JD(U) National President Lalan Singh as representative of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Dr B R Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash Ambedkar among other dignitaries would attend the inaugural ceremony of the secretariat and all the leaders would attend a public meeting in Hyderabad on that day.

The BRS government's decision to inaugurate the new Secretariat on February 17, the birthday of the Telangana Chief Minister, came in for flak from the opposition BJP. Addressing a street corner meeting organised by his party in Hyderabad on Friday, state BJP president and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar disapproved of the Chief Minister inaugurating the new Secretariat on the latter's birthday.

The Secretariat building, named after Babasaheb Ambedkar by the BRS government, should be inaugurated on April 14, Ambedkar's birth anniversary, Kumar had said. The BRS government has increased the expenditure estimates to build the Secretariat from Rs 400 crore to Rs 1,500 crore, the Karimnagar Lok Sabha member had alleged.