Ambedkar statue unveiled at Assembly

Hyderabad: Governor ESL Narasimhan on Monday unveiled the statue of Dr B R Ambedkar on the premises of State Legislative Assembly here on Monday.

Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manhohar, Council Chairman Dr A Chakrapani, Leader of Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu, YSRCP floor leader YS Vijay Lakshmi and other leaders participated in the event.

However, Dalit MLAs belonging to Congress and opposition TDP were an unhappy lot as they claimed that the statue did not resemble the architect of Indian Constitution. But, the Speaker N Manohar did not agree with them and asked them not to rake up a controversy on the issue.

Minutes after the unveiling of the 15 feet bronze statue, crafted at a cost of Rs 23 lakh, the MLAs raised a hue and cry over the size and facial features of the statue.

TDLP Deputy Leader M Narasimhulu said that the face of the statue does not resemble Ambedkar’s.

The sculptor did not adhere to the standard parameters in crafting the statue, he said and demanded that it be replaced with another one. Government Whip A Mohan also echoed the same feelings.

Demanding that the government rectify the errors in the statue, Congress MLA Ch Lingaiah said that the Gandhi statue was comparatively big in terms of size and basement. He wanted the Ambedkar statue also to be of equal size to the Gandhi statue.

A group of MLAs later met the Speaker and raised the issue before him. Whip Mohan, Lingaiah, K Sridhar were among others who met the Speaker. Earlier, as the Governor was unveiling the statue, legislators from Seemandhra and Telangana raised united Andhra and Telangana slogans.