Hyderabad: Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy will unveil the statue of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on Monday, September 16, in front of the state Secretariat in Hyderabad. This event comes amid ongoing political tensions between the ruling Congress and the main opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) which has been opposing it.
Telangana transport and BC welfare minister Ponnam Prabhakar has urged Congress leaders to actively contribute to the success of the statue unveiling event.
In August, a verbal clash erupted between chief minister Revanth Reddy and BRS working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) after Revanth announced plans to erect the statue of Rajiv Gandhi in front of the Secretariat. The site had originally been designated for the Telangana Thalli statue by the previous BRS government, and the isse led to a heated exchange between the two leaders.
The announcement did not go well with the BRS with KTR, who said that after four years when his party regains power, the Rajiv Gandhi statue will be replaced by Telangana Thalli. He also stated that BRS would rename all locations across the state after prominent personalities from Telangana.
KTR called the ruling Congress government’s decision to erect the statue in the Secretariat as a move that would ‘hamper’ the pride and existence of Telangana. He added that the Congress will be doing a “grave injustice” to Telangana and that the BRS will rename the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad as well and it will be named after a prominent figure from Telangana.
”There are a lot of Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi statues and areas named after them in Hyderabad. The BRS did not change those; However the statue in front of Secretariat should be removed. The Congress is used to taking order from Delhi. The BRS doesn’t have any such compulsion. We will rename all the locations as soon as we come to power,” KTR remarked.
Reacting to KTR, chief minister Revanth Reddy lashed out at the former IT minister remarking that statues of those who looted Telangana in the name of a movement shouldn’t be placed in front of the secretariat.
“Do you want to remove Rajiv Gandhi’s statue from the secretariat and replace it with your father’s?” Reddy asked KTR, referring to former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR).
Revanth dared the BRS leaders to touch the statue of Rajiv Gandhi and warned that if they continue to speak such language, Telangana would be forced to socially boycott them. The chief minister remarked that there was no place in front of the secretariat for ‘drunkards’ and ‘thieves’. CM Reddy also questioned BRS leaders why they never thought of installing Telangana Talli’s statue for ten years.
