Hyderabad, Aug 28 (IANS): Days after a row over former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s statue, Telangana Chief Minister, A Revanth Reddy laid the foundation stone for Telangana Talli’s (mother Telangana) statue in the state Secretariat on Wednesday.
Amid the chanting of Vedic hymns by priests, CM Reddy participated in the rituals for ‘Bhoomi Puja’ to set up the statue of Telangana Talli.
The statue of Telangana Talli will come up at the place identified by CM Reddy a few days ago.
He announced that the statue will be unveiled on December 9.
It was on December 9, 2009 that the then Congress-led UPA government had announced that the process for the formation of Telangana State would be initiated.
December 9 also coincides with the birthday of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.
The CM stated that Sonia Gandhi fulfilled the decades-old dream of the Telangana people to have their own state.
CM Reddy said the Tank Bund has statues of many great personalities but the statue of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who laid down his life for the country, was missing.
“On the advice of the intellectuals we installed the statue of Rajiv Gandhi in front of the Secretariat but the BRS leaders tried to create controversy by linking it with the statue of Telangana Talli,” he said.
Hitting out at the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), he said those who ruled the state for 10 years ignored Telangana Talli.
“They acted as if they alone represented Telangana. Our people’s government is against such thinking,” he said.
Stating that the Secretariat is like the heart of Telangana people, he alleged that the previous rulers did not even allow people to enter the Secretariat for ten years.
Reiterating that the Telangana Talli will be re-designed, CM Reddy said it “should look like our own mother and reflect Telangana culture.”
CM Reddy said the task of designing the statue has been given to the Fine Arts department of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University.
After the Congress party came to power in December last year, CM Reddy announced that the statue of ‘Telangana Talli’ would be re-designed saying the one designed by the previous government of BRS does not reflect the Telangana culture.
CM Reddy on August 20 announced that the Telangana Talli statue would be installed in the Secretariat premises.
His announcement was seen as a counter to Opposition BRS, which claimed that the place where the statue of late Rajiv Gandhi was installed in front of the Secretariat building by the Congress government was earmarked by the previous BRS government to erect the idol of Telangana Talli.
Terming the installation of late Rajiv Gandhi’s statue an insult to Telangana Talli, BRS Working President KT Rama Rao had declared that after BRS returns to power, the former Prime Minister’s statue will be removed and Telangana Talli will be installed in its place.
Questioning the BRS for failing to set up the statue of Telangana Talli for 10 years, CM Reddy announced that his government would install the same in the Secretariat premises and unveil it on December 9.
Ministers, Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari, senior leader and former MP K Keshava Rao, Greater Hyderabad Mayor Gadwal Vijayalaxmi and others were present at the foundation laying ceremony.