BDMK plea to TN govt on 'Ugadi'

Chennai, Feb 26 (UNI) The Bharathiya Dravida Makkal Katchi (BDMK) today appealed to the Tamil Nadu government to declare 'Ugadi' (Telugu New Year Day) as a government holiday.

Mr P Muthuvel Raj and Dr S Pannai Paramasivam, president and general secretary respectively of the BDMK told newspersons here that till recently 'Ugadi' was a government holiday.

But it was suddenly withdrawn from the list of government holidays hurting the sentiments of Telugu, Kannada, Saurashtra people in Tamil Nadu and appealed to the government to consider their plea and declare 'Ugadi' falling on March 30 this year as a holiday.

A state-wide fast will be undertaken on March 20 to draw the government's attention towards the issue.

Having been recognised by the Election Commission as a registered political party, the BDMK leaders said they were willing to forge alliance with like-minded parties to form a Third Front and face the ensuing elections to the state Assembly.

They have already commenced talks with some parties for forming the Third Front besides identifying 100 constituencies in Tamil Nadu where the party enjoyed good support.

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