Hyderabad, Sep 16 : Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Monday unveiled the statue of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in front of the state Secretariat.

In his address on the occasion, he slammed the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) for opposing the installation of the statue and asked if its party supremo K. Chandrashekar Rao's family was aware of the sacrifices made by the Gandhi family for the country.

Referring to the threats of BRS leaders that they would remove the statue of Rajiv Gandhi after their party came to power again, the Chief Minister dared them to touch it.

On the claim of BRS Working President K.T. Rama Rao that the place where Rajiv Gandhi's statue was installed was meant for the statue of Telangana Talli (Mother Telangana), Revanth Reddy asked what the BRS government did for 10 years.

He said his government gave due place to Telangana Talli by recently laying the foundation stone for the statue in the Secretariat premises and reiterated that the statue will be unveiled on December 9.

The Chief Minister paid rich tributes to Rajiv Gandhi and said he laid down his life for the country. He claimed that Rajiv Gandhi had accepted the post of Prime Minister for the sake of the people and recalled that he lowered the voting age to 18 years.

Recalling the words of Mahatma Gandhi that India lives in its villages, Revanth Reddy said Mahatma Gandhi's dream was fulfilled by Rajiv Gandhi through the 73rd Constitutional amendments, which gave financial powers to the villages by empowering panchayats.

The Chief Minister said Rajiv Gandhi politically empowered women and introduced Information Technology in the country.

Stating that the Gandhi family's history is full of sacrifices, he recalled that Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru went to jail for the freedom of the country. He said it was Nehru who protected India's integrity by ensuring the merger of 564 princely states into the country. When there was bloodshed in the country due to communal violence, Nehru with his visionary approach established peace and it was Nehru who laid down the foundation for India's future by giving priority to education and irrigation, he said.

Revanth Reddy remarked that "some useless fellows" talk about political succession and mentioned that when Nehru was alive, Indira Gandhi did not take up any post.

Even today, the poor worship Indira Gandhi as a goddess. The Chief Minister said it was Indira Gandhi who worked for the poor's development by nationalising banks and abolishing privy purses. She distributed lands to enhance the self-respect of Dalits, tribals and other weaker sections. It was Indira Gandhi who fulfilled the poor's dream of owning a house by building Indiramma houses. She shed her last drop of blood for the sake of the country.

Ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy, Damodar Rajanarasimha, Ponnam Prabhakar, Sridhar Babu, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, Seethakka, Konda Surekha, AICC in-charge Deepa Dasmunshi, state Congress chief Mahesh Kumar Goud and others attended the programme.

/IANS