Krishna Kant releases book amid protocol controversy

A book entitled The saga of Hyderabad liberation struggle in India's freedom movement was released yesterday by the Indian Vice President Krishna Kant, whom Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has agreed to back for the President's post.

The former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, and the Karnataka and Maharashtra chief ministers were also present at the release of the book written by the freedom fighter V.H. Desai and academician C. Sudarshan.

The book is about the struggle organised by Swami Ramananda Tirtha for the liberation and merger of the erstwhile Hyderabad state into India, ruled earlier by the Nizams and made up of Andhra Pradesh (Telangana region) and parts of Karnataka and Maharashtra.

The book was published by the Swami Ramananda Tirtha memorial trust headed by Narasimha Rao.

Kant said as the book could not be bought in shops the chief ministers of the three states should buy copies and keep them in libraries in their states.

On Saturday, the state Congress criticised the "breach" of protocol by Kant at the airport on Friday inviting Naidu into his car, forcing the Andhra Pradesh Governor C. Rangarajan to step down and later be accomodated beside Naidu in the same limousine.

Naidu later sought to play down the incident saying he only entered Kant's car after he was "invited" to do so.

The Congress chief spokesperson, K. Rosaiah, said Kant should not have lowered the dignity of his office by behaving in a "political fashion" just because he was in the presidential race or was seeking a second term as Vice President.