The Deccan Chronicle 26.11.2010
Corporators fight to instal statuesNov. 25: Contrary to the expectations of citizens who voted for them, Congress and Telugu Desam corporators are busy competing with each other in installing statues of state and national-level leaders rather than working to provide and improve the city’s civic amenities.
On Thursday morning, TD corporators, led by the floor leader, Mr Singireddy Srinivas Reddy, installed statues of Mahatma Gandhi and B.R. Ambedkar without the corporators’ consent of officials. They then performed milk abhishekam as a mark of respect to the leaders.
This was done as part of their counter strategy against the ruling Congress, which has already installed a statue of late Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy — yet to be unveiled — in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation office.
The TD corporators have also vowed to instal statues of Babu Jagjivan Ram, Jyotirao Phule, N.T. Rama Rao and other leaders in the premises of the GHMC main office at Tank Bund.
The installation of the statues on Thursday, however, kicked up a row with leaders and activists of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Employees’ Union saying that national leaders like Gandhi and Ambedkar were insulted as their statues were placed at the feet of YSR’s statue.
The Union general secretary, Mr B. Narsing Rao, demanded that the statues of national leaders be given a respectable place and that their pedestals should be constructed at a level higher than that of YSR’s.
On placing the statues at the feet of the YSR statue, Mr Singireddy Srinivas said, priority was to instal them first. “We will construct grand pedestals and shift the statues to other locations in the GHMC office,” said Mr Srinivas.
