Bharat Ratna for Ghantasala demanded

Ongole (Prakasam District): The All India Ghantasala Chaitanya Vedika members demanded the Union government for announcing Bharat Ratna award to singer, musician and freedom fighter Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao. The Chaitanya Vedika members paid rich tributes to Ghnatasala by garlanding his statue at CVN Reading Room here on Friday.

The Chaitanya Vedika members will celebrate the birth centenary of Ghantasala on December 4 and will conduct various programmes throughout Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and other States for the last few weeks. They visited Ongole on Friday.

Speaking on the occasion, Chaitanya Vedika president Kota Venkata Reddy said that birth centenary celebrations of Ghantasala are being held at various places in South India and abroad alike by his fans and followers. As part of the celebrations, he informed that Chaitanya Vedika is organising publicity and awareness programmes at 100 locations on the great works of the versatile personality. He demanded that the State and Central governments should understand the sentiment and announce Bharat Ratna to the music idol.

All India Kalarangam Prakasam district president Challa Nageswaramma, district committee members Sk Mabu, Devarasetty Singaiah, Gunturu Satyanarayana, V Sambamurthy, Koppolu Venkateswarlu, Sk Siddambi, Chittithoti Baburao, Kanumala Raghavulu and others participated in the programme.