Statue destruction incident being exaggerated: KCR

Accusing the leaders from Seemandhra of ‘blowing out of proportion’ the damage caused to statues of prominent Telugu personalities on Tank Bund during Million March, Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao alleged that the incident was being exaggerated to derive political mileage.

Talking to media persons after participating in the condolence meeting of Cheruku Sudhakar’s father at Chityal mandal in Nalgonda district, the TRS chief stated the Seemandhra leaders were likening Telangana activists to the Taliban, who destroyed the Buddha statue in Bamiyan, Afghanistan in 2001.

KCR stated that the Telangana activists had turned their ire against the statues as they were frustrated due to the restrictions imposed on the Million March and due to the arrests of Telangana leaders.

The activists resorted to vandalism as there was no popular leader to control them since the police had arrested Telangana leaders as part of their attempt to curb the Million March, KCR pointed out.

The TRS chief also stated that the people of Telangana would dump the Congress into the Bay of Bengal if it fails to introduce the Telangana Bill in Parliament.

KCR further alleged that the Congress was conspiring to get other parties to merge into its fold. He added that this conspiracy would not work with the TRS and vowed never to merge his party into the Congress.

The TRS chief also vowed to implement welfare schemes for poor and downtrodden on the lines of Tamil Nadu government after the formation of Telangana state.

He called upon all Telangana leaders to make united efforts towards formation of Telangana state and sink their differences.

KCR also challenged Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy to reopen the 400 toddy shops closed down, “if he has any commitment towards toddy tappers welfare.”