Telangana govt to set up Vajpayee’s statue

​Hyderabad: Caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Thursday announced that the state government had allocated one-acre land for the memorial of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Hyderabad. Speaking after moving the condolence motion in the Legislative Council, Chandrashekar Rao said that a statue and a memorial would be established in Hyderabad city in the memory of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Rao recalled that the BJP leaders had met him and sought memorial of Vajpayee in Hyderabad. He said that already orders were issued and the officials were on the job. 

Recalling Vajpayee’s leadership, Rao said that he was a great statesman who has brought name and fame to the country at international level. He was the great orator and poet. Several landmark schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Grameena Sadak Yojana, have changed the face of the villages in the entire country. Kargil War and Pokran nuclear test are some of Vajpayee’s initiatives which have shown the strength of the nation, said Rao. 

Rao said that Vajpayee was respected even by the opponents in Parliament. He recalled that he had opportunity to meet him on the issue of injustice meted out to the Telangana in combined state. “Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru once said one day Vajpayee will become the Prime Minister of the country, this has come true and he became Prime Minister three times,” said the CM. Leader of Opposition in Council Mohd Shabbir Ali said that though Vajpayee belongs to Sangh Parivar and RSS, he never used to make any speech on communal lines. Shabbir Ali said that he used to listen to Vajpayee speeches by standing at a distance of the public meeting. 

He recalled that after the communal riots in Gujarat, Vajpayee asked the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi to follow ‘Raj Dharma’. BJP Member N Ramchander Rao and others spoke. The Chief Minister moved three more condolence motions on the demise of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, former MLA of Andhra Pradesh Council and renowned mimicry artiste Nerella Venu Madhav. Later, Council Chairman K Swamy Goud adjourned the House sine die. The Council met for the day as per the obligation that the House should sit at least once in six months.