Hyderabad, Sep 7 (IANS): Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Telangana on September 17 to attend a public meeting in Nirmal district to coincide with the Telangana Liberation Day.

BJP leader and party MP from Adilabad, Soyam Bapu Rao, said on Tuesday that Shah will address the meeting at Veyi Udala Marri. The saffron party is making elaborate arrangements for the public meeting.

State BJP president Bandi Sanjay will pause his ongoing 'padyatra' for a day to attend the public meeting.

The meeting is also being seen as part of BJP's campaign for ensuing elections to the Huzurabad Assembly seat.

The BJP has long been demanding that the government should officially celebrate Telangana Liberation Day.

Governments in undivided Andhra Pradesh and the TRS government after the formation of Telangana in 2014, however, had turned down the demand on the ground that this could lead to communal trouble.

On September 17, 1948, the then Hyderabad state was merged with the Indian Union following India's military action 'Operation Polo', popularly known as 'police action'.

Every year, BJP workers try to hoist the national flag at government offices and public places to press for their demand for officially celebrating the day. The BJP has alleged that the ruling party is scared of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).

The public meeting to be addressed by Shah will be held at Veyi Udala Marri. It is said that Nizam's 'Razakars' (volunteers) had allegedly killed 1,000 people fighting against Nizam's government near a banyan tree at Udala Marri. The place later came to be known as Veyi Udala Marri.