Telangana to invite PM for inaugural

PNS|Hyderabad

In a move that can take many by surprise, the Telangana government is thinking of inviting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the inaugural of the Dr BR Ambedkar statue in Hyderabad.
The 125-foot statue near Tank Bund is being constructed on a war footing and the state wants it to be inaugurated on April 14, on Ambedkar Jayanti Day.

Highly placed sources said the government is planning to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the event. Sources said that the invite will be similar to the invite the Chief Minister got for reopening the Ramagundam fertiliser factory.

Sources indicated that it would be just a namesake invitation and that the TS government won’t go the extra mile to see that Modi attends. Sources said that Modi won’t attend considering the political dynamics and that will be advantageous to the TRS.

The Telangana government has already named the secretariat after Ambedkar. It is also exerting pressure on the Centre to name the renovated Parliament building after Ambedkar.

In such a scenario, if Modi absents himself from the inaugural function despite his invitation it will have its own effect on the electorate in an election year.

Chief Minister KCR has ordered that the lower part of the statue pedestal should be built in the shape of the Parliament building and he is monitoring this.

The 125-foot tall bronze statue of BR Ambedkar near NTR Gardens would be the tallest statue of Ambedkar on earth. Nearly Rs 150 crore has been sanctioned for the statue.

Once completed, the statue will become a major tourist attraction in the city and a large number of tourists from India and abroad are expected to visit the statue.

The TS government is undertaking the project to stress the need for implementing Ambedkar’s principles in the country.

There will be an auditorium and a theatre where Ambedkar’s childhood, education, and his services in framing the Constitution and the country will be shown.