Old vs new: Row over Telangana Thalli statue

Jangaon:The installation of the Telangana Thalli statue in Palakurthi snowballed into a major controversy with both the BRS and the Congress cadres hellbent on installing the earlier and the new version of the statue of Telangana Thalli.

It may be recalled here that the Revanth Reddy Government unveiled a newly designed Telangana Thalli statue, replacing the previous one that the BRS Government designed. The Congress cadre removed the old Telugu Thalli statue and installed the newly designed statue, despite stern opposition from the BRS cadre.

Congress cadre added more fuel to the controversy by throwing the old statue into nearby thorny bushes.

In this regard, BRS leader Errabelli Usha Dayakar Rao, wife of former minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao, who represented the Palakurthi constituency thrice before losing in the 2023 election, led a rally with the cadre to the police station on Sunday. But the police stopped their rally and tried to disperse the BRS workers.

Fury over the development, Usha Dayakar Rao found fault with the police for giving undue importance to Jhansi Reddy, the mother-in-law of local MLA Yashaswini Reddy. “Even though Jhansi Reddy didn’t have Indian citizenship, the police were giving high priority. Jhansi is behaving like a de facto MLA. Why aren’t the police allowing me to the police station to register a complaint against the Congress workers’ attacks on BRS cadre?” Usha Dayakar Rao questioned.

Referring to the illegal arrests and attacks on BRS workers, she said

that they have been counting the mistakes of the police and will pay back after returning to power.