Opp leaders meet Telangana Governor; demand installation of Ambedkar's statue

A 10-feet-tall statue of BR Ambedkar erected in the Greater Hyderabad area was removed by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) authorities just a day before the leader's 128th birth anniversary.

Hyderabad (Telangana): Leaders of Congress, Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and other parties met the Telangana Governor ESL Narasimhan on Tuesday and raised their concern over a newly installed statue of Dr. B R Ambedkar being dumped in a pile of garbage in Hyderabad.

All the parties collectively demanded the immediate installation of the statue by the government, said Congress' Telangana unit president N Uttam Kumar Reddy.

Expressing dissatisfaction over K Chandrashekhar Rao government's indifference to the issue, TDP state president L Ramana said that the government has been selective in its response and has only targeted the drivers, but has not revealed the names of the leaders and officials behind the decision.

Ramana also demanded criminal cases to be slapped against those involved.

A 10-feet-tall statue of BR Ambedkar erected in the Greater Hyderabad area was removed by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) authorities just a day before the leader's 128th birth anniversary.

The civic authorities had reportedly told members of the Ambedkar Statue Protection Committee – which had installed the statue, that they did not have the permission and seized the installation to relocate it to the Kotla Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy stadium in Yousufguda for storage.

But, later in the day, the statue was found broken into pieces and dumped in a dumping yard.