Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has declared that the ‘Koti Deepotsavam’ programme, being organized to mark the auspicious Karthika Maasam, will be celebrated as a state festival from the next year. Further, the Chief Minister said, the state government will write a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to declare Koti Deepotsavam as a national festival.

Participating in the religious event, involving the traditional lighting of a crore lamps conducted annually by a Bhakti TV channel, here on Saturday night, the Chief Minister commended the channel’s management for conducting the programme for the last 14 years, making popular the chanting of ‘Hara Hara Mahadev’ by crores of devotees across the country every year.

Congratulating the organizers on behalf of the Telangana people, the Chief Minister observed: “Spirituality provides us all with a power and an inspiration”. He said it was all the more a delightful moment for him since he was participating in such a big spiritual event on his birthday. The CM thanked people and crores of devotees who blessed him on his birthday. He appealed to people to support the government in making Telangana “number one state in the country”.