India Political Party Chief To Attend Malaysian Telugu Diaspora Event

By Shakir Husain

HYDERABAD, June 3 (Bernama) -- Prominent Indian politician K.T. Rama Rao will be in Kuala Lumpur this weekend to attend an event organised by the Malaysian Telugu community.

Rao, who is working president of Telangana state's former ruling party Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), will join the celebrations marking Telangana Formation Day.

"The Telangana diaspora have called us, so I am there honouring their invitation," Rao told Bernama in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

A number of BRS party leaders will also be in Malaysia to participate in the celebrations. 

Telangana formally became a state on June 2 in 2014 after the Telugu language-speaking state of Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated.

Telangana accounts for less than three percent of India's population and about five per cent share in its gross domestic product (GDP). Its capital Hyderabad is one of India's key business and technology hubs.

Popularly known as KTR, the BRS working president travelled to Dallas in the United States in June last year to celebrate Telangana Formation Day and his party's silver jubilee organised by his supporters in the non-resident Indian (NRIs) community.

The Kuala Lumpur event, to be held at the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) convention centre on Saturday, is expected to attract Telugu community members from Southeast Asia.

It includes activities showcasing Telangana's cultural heritage.

The event is jointly organised by the Malaysia Telangana Association (MYTA) and BRS Malaysia, Telugu Association of Malaysia (TAM) deputy president Sathiah Sudakaran said on his Facebook page on Tuesday.

A "meet-and-greet session" is planned on Sunday at the TAM Academy in Rawang where visiting leaders from Telangana will interact with TAM members.

"We initially planned events in six to seven countries across the world. After the United States, we selected Malaysia, which has a large Telugu population, including people from Telangana.

“Thus, we will be able to reach out to NRIs in Singapore and other countries in the region," BRS NRI global coordinator Mahesh Bigala told the Hyderabad-based Telangana Today newspaper recently.

-- BERNAMA