Hyderabad: Telangana deputy chief minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu rejected the claims made by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that he was disrespected in the Yadadri temple event on Monday, March 11.
Controversy erupted after a video emerged from the Yadadri event on Monday, March 11, where Bhatti and minister for forests, Konda Surekha, who hails from the Backward Classes (BC), were seen sitting on smaller stools while chief minister A Revanth Reddy, and his wife Geetha Reddy and ministers N Uttam Kumar Reddy and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy sat on a taller stool at the event.
“I deliberately sat on the small stool to extend my full respect towards the blessings. A lot of people are trolling over a trivial image. It is unfortunate…. I thank all of them. I understand that you are hurt, but, no one did this (to me) deliberately,” Bhatti said, at a public meeting on Tuesday, March 12.
Rejecting claims of the opposition, he further said that as the deputy chief minister of the state handling the finance, energy and planning departments, he is in a place of taking many top policy decisions.
“I won’t bow to anyone and nobody can dictate where I can sit…” he added.
The BRS and the BJP had termed the development as “deep disrespect” towards Dalits and Bahujans by the Congress party.
Revanth’s Yadadri visit
Accompanied by his wife Geetha, the chief minister participated in Brahmotsavam of the ancient cave shrine in Yadadri Bhongir district, about 70 km from Hyderabad.
The couple participated in a special puja amid chanting of Vedic hymns. The Chief Minister presented silk robes and ‘mutyala talambralu’ to deities on behalf of the state government.
Earlier, the chief minister was accorded a traditional welcome by priests and the temple officials on his arrival.
He was accompanied by deputy chief minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, Konda Surekha and some MLAs.
Attired in the traditional dress, the chief minister and ministers reached Yadagirigutta by helicopter. The motorcade comprising scores of vehicles passed through the newly laid roads up to the hill.
This was Revanth Reddy’s first visit to Ydadri after assuming office as the chief minister.
The most famous temple of Telangana has been decked up for 11-day Brahmotsavam.
The temple was renovated by the previous BRS government at a cost of over Rs 1,800 crore.
In March 2022, former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao inaugurated the renovated temple.
The sanctum sanctorum of the lion god located in a cave atop Yadagirigutta or Yadadri was reopened after a gap of six years.
After taking over as the first chief minister of Telangana in 2014, KCR had proposed to develop the Yadadri temple on the lines of Venkateshwara Swamy temple, one of the richest temples in the country located in the Chittoor district in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
(With excerpts from IANS)
