Amid a bitter political slugfest, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has unveiled a statue of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, opposite the state secretariat in Hyderabad.
The opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is strongly opposed to the move. The original plan was to install a statue of “Telangana Thalli” (Mother Telangana) as a tribute to the regional identity.
Dubbing the installation of the Rajiv Gandhi statue as an insult to the self-respect of Telangana, the BRS has called for state-wide protests on Tuesday.
The statue was originally scheduled to be inaugurated by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on August 20 on the occasion of the birth anniversary of the former Prime Minister. The BRS had protested then, too, stating that the island where Rajiv Gandhi’s statue had been installed was meant for Telangana Talli.
Addressing the gathering after unveiling the Rajiv Gandhi statue, Revanth Reddy lashed out at the BRS leaders for belittling the sacrifice made by the former PM and trying to kick up Telangana sentiment all over again for petty political gains.
“These BRS leaders, who are playing cheap politics in the name of Telangana, had looted thousands of crores in the last 10 years of their regime. They have no idea about the sacrifices made by the Gandhi family. I want to remind them that it was the Nehru family that sacrificed its wealth for the country and fought for the freedom of the country,” he said.
He lashed out at the BRS leaders for raising a hue and cry over the installation of Rajiv Gandhi statue in front of the secretariat. “The place had been lying vacant for the last 10 years. If they wanted to install the statue of Telangana Talli at this spot, who stopped them?” he asked.
Interestingly, Revanth Reddy, last month laid the foundation for installing the Telangana Thalli statue inside the state secretariat.
BRS working president, KT Rama Rao, warned that the people of Telangana will teach the Congress and Revanth Reddy a lesson for hurting the sentiments of the Telangana people. He also said Revanth Reddy should remember that no one can survive in politics by hurting Telangana sentiments.
He stated that upon returning to power, BRS would remove Rajiv Gandhi's statue from that location and relocate it to Gandhi Bhavan with full honours. KTR assured that they would take steps to ensure that the Telangana Thalli statue is installed in its rightful place.
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