Shankar Rao backs Tank Bund statues

Former minister and Congress leader P. Shankar Rao came to the rescue of the statues of Telugu luminaries from Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions installed on the Tank Bund.

Telangana Home Minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy stirred up a controversy when he said that there are many useless statues on Tank Bund which have to be replaced with idols of Telangana martyrs.

Responding on this, Shankar Rao said that the statues on Tank Bund belong to the whole Telugu people and not just of Andhras.

Shankar Rao also said that some leaders in the ruling party were trying to provoke enmity between the people of different regions. To uphold the dignity of Telugus, late NTR installed these statues on Tank Band, he added.

It may be recalled that the pro-Telangana activists have damaged the statues of great Telugu icons during the peak of Telangana agitation. The T activists have been arguing that several Telangana icons were ignored and those from the Andhra region were given preference.