Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s unveiling of a statue of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi near the state Secretariat on Monday was followed by a verbal slugfest between the BRS and Congress.

The Opposition party, which wanted the idol of Telangana Talli to be installed at the same spot, has now given a call for a protest across the state tomorrow, claiming that Rajiv Gandhi’s statue was installed at the place earmarked for an idol of Telangana Talli.

Last month, the chief minister initiated a groundbreaking ceremony for the installation of the statue of Telangana Talli inside the Secretariat premises after the controversy. The BRS and a section of the civil society objected to the installation of the statue of Rajiv Gandhi at the prominent junction since the slain Congress leader did not have any connection with Telangana.

The chief minister unveiled the bronze statue of Rajiv Gandhi in the presence of the AICC in-charge Deepa Dasmunshi, new PCC chief Mahesh Goud, and his other Cabinet ministers. He asked why the BRS failed to install the statue of Telangana Talli during the ten years of their rule.

He claimed that former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had reserved the spot for his own statue. Taking a potshot at BRS working president KT Rama Rao, Reddy said, “Even KTR (KT Rama Rao) became the IT minister because of Rajiv Gandhi and now he is active on Twitter. If not for Rajiv Gandhi he would have been selling idli-vada in Guntur on Siddipet.”

The BRS asked its supporters to perform palabhishekam (anointing statues with milk) on the idols of Telangana Talli across the state tomorrow as a mark of protest. It alleged that the spot between the Martyr’s Memorial and the state secretariat had been earmarked for the statue of Telangana Talli but the chief minister in a show of highhandedness and sycophancy had decided to install the statue of Rajiv Gandhi at the spot.

“By putting up the statue of Rahul Gandhi’s father, Congress insulted Telangana’s self respect,” contended Rao while accusing the chief minister of insulting Telangana Talli and the state’s legacy.

BRS leaders claimed the act of sycophancy did not impress the high command, pointing out that he failed to get anyone from the Gandhi family to come down from Delhi to attend the inauguration ceremony of Rajiv Gandhi’s statue.

The statue was initially slated to be unveiled on 20 August, the birth anniversary of the ex-prime minister. The BRS has already announced that they would remove the statue of Rajiv Gandhi once they come back to power. The statue of Telangana Talli which will be put up inside the Secretariat would be installed on 9 December, the day the Congress government took oath last year.