Hyderabad: Kinnera artist Darshanam Mogulaiah, a 2022 recipient of the prestigious Padma Shri award, has threatened to return his award following the allegations of the Bharatiya Janata Party that the Telangana state government has failed to give the promised grant and a house site in the city.
Speaking to The News Minute, Mogulaiah said that he met a BJP leader on May 18 at the Achampet court who enquired about the grant and the house site.
Mogulaiah said, “I told that I have still not received the grant and the house site and that the (Telangana Rashtriya Samithi party leader) Balaraju was working on it.”
On January 28, the chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao felicitated the legendary Kinnera player by announcing a gift of rupees one crore and a house.
“The BJP leader accused the state government of the delay and told me that he will fight for me. I then requested him not to drag me into such controversies,” Mogulaiah said.
Mogulaiah claims that after the request, the BJP leader still went ahead and made comments about chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
Mogulaiah told The News Minute that he is ready to give away his award if the BJP does not stop mud-sling him.
Mogulaiah belongs to the Dakkali community, a sub-sect of Madigas, categorised as Scheduled Castes. Traditionally Dakkalis earned their living by playing the Kinnera – a string instrument made with a long bamboo neck and dry hollow pumpkins that work as resonators. The strings are traditionally made of animal nerves, but have now been replaced with metal.
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