BRS working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) on Friday accused the Congress-led Telangana government of deliberately neglecting the memorial of Dr BR Ambedkar, constructed by the previous K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) administration. He alleged that the memorial was made inaccessible to prevent people from visiting it, even on the occasion of Dr Ambedkar’s death anniversary.
Despite Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy directing his administration to invite his predecessor K Chandrasekhar Rao to the three-day celebrations marking the Congress government’s first year in office, the BRS refused to stand down. Key BRS leaders were reportedly placed under house arrest for the second consecutive day.
KTR, popularly known as KT Rama Rao, targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is often seen carrying a small copy of the Constitution. KTR accused the Revanth Reddy government of indulging in unconstitutional acts in Telangana, even as Rahul Gandhi often speaks about the importance of the Constitution.
“Rahul Gandhi ji, have you explicitly instructed your government to insult Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar,” KTR asked in a post on the microblogging platform X.
Sharing photographs of the Ambedkar memorial built by the previous BRS government, KTR highlighted what he described as the stark contrast between the two administrations.
“Please see the stark difference between the BRS government, which installed and celebrated the world’s largest 125-foot statue of Dr Ambedkar ji, and how your Congress government has neglected his legacy and memorial for over a year. What a shame!” he wrote.
Earlier, KTR criticized the Congress government for not even bothering to clean or garland the statue. “When we planned to visit the memorial to clean it ourselves, our leaders were placed under house arrest,” he said.
Prominent BRS leaders including T Harish Rao and Kalvakuntla Kavitha, were reportedly detained by police to prevent them from protesting at the Ambedkar statue near the Secretariat.
Harish Rao strongly condemned the move, stating, “We strongly condemn the arrest and detention of BRS leaders and activists across the state. Why are there restrictions on paying respects on the death anniversary of the founder of the Constitution, Dr BR Ambedkar? This reflects your dictatorial rule. On one hand, you are celebrating one year of governance; on the other, you have imposed an undeclared emergency in the state.”
KTR also accused the Congress government of neglecting Dalits by halting key welfare initiatives such as the Dalit Bandhu financial assistance scheme and the Ambedkar Overseas Scholarship, which allowed underprivileged meritorious students to pursue higher education abroad.