Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao attracted the attention of people attending the official Republic Day celebration at Parade Ground in Secunderabad by leaving the venue even before the function was over.
Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan had just completed reading the 16-page text of his prepared R-Day address and was to present appeciation trophies and prizes to contingents that staged a marchpast, when Mr. Rao left. All the Cabinet Ministers and leaders walked till the convoy of vehicles of Mr. Rao even as the Governor stood at the podium and pedestal from where he took the salute as part of the marchpast.
The scene was witnessed even before the National Anthem was played to mark the conclusion of the function. The Ministers and other VIPs returned to their seats after seeing off Mr. Rao. Governor's wife Vimala Narasimhan was seen enquiring Mr. Rao's son and Minister K.T. Rama Rao about something. The Minister greeted her with folded hands when the group of ministers returned.
The hour-long celebration was without the traditional cultural performances by school children. This was attributed to the delayed commencement of the function because Mr. Narasimhan had to participate in the Republic Day of Andhra Pradesh Government at Vijayawada. He arrived by helicopter at Begumpet and drove straight to the Parade Grounds.
Tent pegging by horse riding cadets of National Cadet Corps (NCC) and a demonstration of the functioning of a snorkel of fire services were the only other performances apart from marchpast.
