Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday lashed out at the Bharat Rashtra Samithi leaders for raising a hue and cry over the installation of the statue of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in front of the state secretariat, where the previous BRS government planned to erect Telangana Talli statue.
Revanth unveiled Rajiv Gandhi statue, even as the BRS strongly protested it and described it as an insult to the self-respect of Telangana. The BRS called for state-wide protests on Tuesday.
The chief minister Revanth wondered why the BRS government had failed to install the statue of Telangana Talli in the island in front of the secretariat which was lying vacant for the last 10 years.
“If they wanted to instal the statue of Telangana Talli at this spot, who stopped them? Just because we decided to install Rajiv Gandhi statue, they are kicking up Telangana sentiment,” he criticised.
He pointed out that BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao had constructed his farmhouse at Erravelli village, his residence-cum-camp office Pragati Bhavan at Begumpet and the state secretariat during his 10-year regime, but not Telangana Talli statue.
“Now, we are installing the Telangana Talli statue within the secretariat premises and we shall unveil it on December 9,” the chief minister said.
He came down heavily on the BRS leaders for describing Rajiv Gandhi statue as an insult to Telangana and belittling the sacrifices made by the former Prime Minister.
“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,” he said.
Revanth Reddy said Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi had laid down their lives for protecting the integrity of the country.
He said the former Prime Minister also had taken several initiatives like granting voting rights to youth before 18 years, bringing in Constitutional amendments to provide autonomy to the rural and urban local bodies, providing reservations to women in the local bodies and introducing technological revolution in the country.
“He was the one who introduced computers to India. Had he not done it then, KTR would not have become an IT minister during his father’s rule,” he said.
BRS working president K T Rama Rao said his party would organise state-wide protests on Tuesday, condemning the installation of Rajiv Gandhi’s statue in front of the secretariat.
He also called upon the people to join the BRS cadre in performing ‘Palabhishekam’ (milk bath) of Telangana Talli statues across the state.
