Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao attracted the attention of participants to the official Republic Day celebration at Parade Grounds here by leaving the venue even before the function was over.
It was later explained that Mr. Rao drove to the College of Air Warfare, opposite the ground, to receive Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan for a brief sojourn after the hour long function where he reviewed the parade. Mr. Rao left from the college after Mr. Narasimhan.
Mr. Narasimhan had completed reading the 16 page text of his address and was to present appreciation trophies to contingents that staged a march past when Mr. Rao walked away much to the surprise of the crowd. All the Ministers and leaders followed him till his convoy of vehicles on the road outside even as the Governor stood on the pedestal from where he took the salute as part of the march past.
The scene was witnessed 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. The Governor's wife Vimala Narasimhan was seen enquiring something from Mr. Rao’s son and Minister K.T. Rama Rao who greeted her with folded hands while the group returned.
The hour long celebration was without the traditional cultural performances by schoolchildren. This was attributed to the delayed commencement of the function because Mr. Narasimhan also had to participate in the Republic Day celebrations of Andhra Pradesh government at Vijayawada. He arrived by helicopter at Begumpet and drove straight to 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 march past.
