Hyderabad: Cutting across party lines and regional borders, eminent personalities including politicians, diplomats, sportspersons and film stars extended wishes to Industries Minister KT Rama Rao on his birthday on Saturday. The Minister acknowledged and thanked everyone for their wishes.
Since the Minister is popular in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, wishes poured in from that State as well. AP government Adviser Rajiv Krishna, MPs YS Chowdary, Raghu Rama Krishna Raju, CM Ramesh and MLA Ganta Srinivas Rao were among the people who wished the Minister.
Politicians across party line including BJP leader Muralidhar Rao and Congress’ Madhu Yashki greeted the Minister. US Consul General Joel Reifman, the United Kingdom’s Deputy High Commissioner to AP and Telangana Andrew Fleming and Australia High Commissioner to India, Barry O’Farrell extended their greetings.
VVS Laxman, Jwala Gutta, Pragyan Ojha, Hanuma Vihari were among the sportspersons who greeted the Minister. The entire Telugu film industry was all praise for the Minister while extending birthday greetings on Twitter. Megastar Chiranjeevi, Sonu Sood, Mahesh Babu, R Madhavan and many others extended greetings.
Following Rama Rao’s appeal, many people avoided cutting cakes and putting up banners and instead took up novel initiatives of helping the needy.
Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao donated five customised scooters to differently-abled persons in Palakurthy.
MLC P Srinivas Reddy announced that he was adopting Ramavaram village in Wardhannapet constituency, Warangal, and promised to transform the village into an ideal one by ensuring all amenities. The IT Minister responded immediately and tweeted “Great gesture Srinu, thanks.”
Osmania University Executive Council member SVC Prakash conducted ‘Gift A Career’ programme at Jahnavi Degree College in the city. As part of the programme, MLC Palla Rajeshwar Reddy distributed appointment letters issued by private companies to three graduates.
Similarly, Sireesha Valluru, a girl from Tanzania, tweeted: “We celebrated your birthday by distributing food to the needy in our town Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Your works are inspiring, keep up your good work Gift-A-Smile.” The Minister immediately replied and tweeted, “Wow! Thanks Sireesha.”
Meghana, a Class V student from Nalgonda, painted the Minister’s images on leaves, papers and others and her father Gurram Venkatesh shared the images with the Minister on Twitter. Even as he responded to the wishes, the Minister continued to help the needy. Bhaskar, a Twitter user, appealed for help in treatment of a child suffering from lung and kidney cancer. The Minister directed his office to assist.
In another tweet, Suresh Verpula shared an image of two children, whose father Babu, an auto driver, had succumbed to Covid at Gandhi Hospital. He sought the Minister’s help. Rama Rao responded positively and assured Suresh that his team would take care. “My team will get in touch ASAP,” he tweeted.
Nitin Mudiraj appealed to the Minister seeking financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh for surgery of a child Renu Sri, who fell from sixth floor of a building and sustained severe injuries. The Minister replied immediately and instructed his team to help the child.