Opposing the move to erect a statute of Rajiv Gandhi beside the BR Ambedkar’s statue near the Secretariat, the BRS claimed that the Congress government has insulted the pride of Telangana since the spot was earmarked for a statue of Telangana Talli (mother).

BRS working president KT Rama Rao threatened to not only remove the statue of Rajiv Gandhi once his party was voted to power but also change the name of the city’s international airport and the other schemes named after the slain Prime Minister.

Rao pointed out that in each state like Karnataka or Maharashtra the international airports were named after local heroes such as Chatrapati Shivaji in Mumbai and Kempegowda in Bengaluru but only in Telangana the airport is named after Rajiv Gandhi.

He pointed out that a number of schemes like the Aarogyashri or infrastructure projects such as IIIT, Uppal stadium and the Karimnagar Highway were named after the former Prime Minister and the BRS had never been inclined to change names.

“In ten years of KCR garu’s rule we never changed names but the decision of the Congress government to erect a statue of Rajiv Gandhiji at the spot which was allotted to Telangana Talli’s statue is an insult to the pride of Telangana. When BRS will come back we will remove Rajiv Gandhiji’s statue and change the name of the airport to someone associated with Telangana movement or its history,” said the BRS working president today.

The Revanth Reddy government had promised to change the appearance of Telangana Talli after they came to power. The controversy broke out after the Congress government decided to set up a statue of Rajiv Gandhi at a spot earmarked for the statue of Telangana Talli by the previous BRS government.

Significantly, the former Prime Minister’s statue would be close to the tourist attraction Lumbini Park named after T Anjaiah who as chief minister of unified Andhra Pradesh had been publicly upbraided by Rajiv Gandhi in 1982 as a ‘buffoon’ for putting up a pomp and show during a visit by the Congress leader.

TDP founder NT Rama Rao had whipped up the mass sentiment of ‘Telugu pride’ after the incident which paved the way for handing a crushing defeat to Congress in the Assembly elections of 1983.

Meanwhile, on the occasion of Rakshabandhan Rao also spoke about his sister K Kavitha who was yet to get bail in the Delhi Liquor Scam case even after spending 155 days behind the bars while hoping that she will get justice from the Supreme Court. Kavitha’s case is slated to come up tomorrow in the Supreme Court.