YSR statue removal triggers row in Vijayawada

VIJAYAWADA: In what could be viewed as a midnight operation, the demolition of a 12-feet high bronze statue of Congress's former chief minister late YS Rajasekhar Reddy at the police control room in the city by the authorities of Vijayawada municipal corporation on Saturday as part of road widening triggered a major controversy, marked by high level political drama.
The city police arrested the YSRC city president Vangaveeti Radhakrishna and party state leader Jogi Ramesh when they tried to prevent the statue demolition. The SRC activists squatted on the road protesting the arrest of their leaders.
Congress MP and Rajasekhar Reddy’s close aid KVP Ramachandra Rao visited the place of demolition later and trained guns against the government for allegedly stooping down to the damage of the statues of opposition parties’ iconic leaders in the name of urban development.
The VMC authorities, however, claimed that they were forced to remove the statue as it was obstructing the flow of traffic through the flyover leading to the Kanakadurga temple from the control room point. As the statue was installed at the four-road junction connecting the I-Town, Benz circle, Pandit Nehru bus station and the temple via flyover, it became a major traffic bottleneck, asserted the officials.
The statue was installed at the centre by the Lagadapati Rajagopal Foundation after the death of Rajasekhar Reddy during the Congress regime after obtaining permission from the VMC in 2011.The VMC renamed the police control room centre as YSRC chowk after the statue installation. Incidentally, the other statues of Communist veteran Chandra Rajeswara Rao and peasant leader and Congress stalwart NG Ranga located a stone’s throw towards Thummalapalli Kalakshetram remained untouched.
Congress spokesman Kolanukonda Sivaji accused the government of caste bias in removal of statues. He sought to know why the authorities dared not to touch NTR statue in Patamata area which is also right in the midst of the road causing traffic obstructions. Sivaji said it was minimum courtesy on the part of the administration to consult the opposition leaders while resorting to removal of the statue.