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 Secretariat. This event comes amid ongoing political tensions between the ruling Congress and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).
Transport and BC welfare minister Ponnam Prabhakar has urged Congress leaders to actively contribute to the success of the statue unveiling event.
Telangana CM Revanth Reddy confident of another term in power
In August, a verbal clash erupted between Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and BRS working president KT Rama Rao after Revanth announced plans to erect a 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, sparking a heated exchange between the two leaders.
The announcement did not go well with the BRS with KTR stating 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.
He termed the ruling Congress government’s decision as a to hamper the pride and existence of Telangana.
KTR added that the Congress has done “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,” he 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.
Rajiv Gandhi statue will be installed in front of Secretariat: Telangana CM
He 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.
