MG Road statue historic: Marri
The first ever statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the country was specially made in Italy with Pancha Lohas and 70 years later, it remains intact, observed senior Congress leader Marri Shashidhar Reddy here on Wednesday. He was taking pot shots at animal husbandry minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav, who claimed that Congress leaders were trying to derive political mileage out of the Gandhi statue issue.
Reddy had earlier opposed the decision of GHMC to replace the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Y-junction at MG Road in Secunderabad. Though the beautification was a good initiative, they were trying to erase history by replacing the statue, he said.
In a letter addressed to the minister, Reddy said that on May 20, he had gone to MG road to see the Gandhi statue in the light of reports that it was being replaced by another one. It was not a dharna, he said.
“Gandhi had visited Secunderabad before independence, disembarked at the James
Street railway station and travelled across the then James street. After his death in 1948, the then Paradise theatre owner, the late Thodupunuri Anjayya Goud, set out to erect a statue to commemorate Gandhiji’s visit,” mentioned Reddy.
“Recognising this, Jawaharlal Nehru unveiled this statue in 1951. His sister Vijayalakshmi Pandit and Sarojini Naidu's daughter Padmaja Naidu Pandit accompanied him on that occasion. Burugula Ramakishan Rao, B.V. Gurumurthy and Anjayya Goud participated in the event. To say that the development work was undertaken only after consulting the family members of Anjaiah Goud, is a blatant lie and I challenge them to prove it,” he added.