All India Congress Committee (AICC) member Kolanukonda Shivaji on August 15 (Tuesday) demanded that the Vijayawada Municipal Commissioner take up the responsibility of re-installing a bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi that stood opposite the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation office in 1997.
The statue was removed from there and kept at the Rajiv Gandhi Municipal Park for some time to avoid any possible damage to it during the construction of the Kanakadurga flyover. The idea was to re-install it after the completion of the project.
In a statement, the AICC leader said the 30-feet bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi was designed at a cost of ₹17 lakh and it was installed by Congress leader G.S. Raju in 1997, opposite the VMC office, and unveiled by social activist Anna Hazare.
Leaders of various political parties and people’s organisations paid tributes to the Father of the Nation every year on January 26 and on August 15, by garlanding the statue for more than two decades.
But the statue was removed and placed in one corner of the VMC office stating that it came in the way of the construction of a flyover, after 2019.
Mr. Shivaji said the corporation officials did not have proper answers when asked repeatedly about the fate of the statue and why it was not re-installed around the VMC office. “Today, I saw reports in a section of media on the theft of the statue and that parts of the bronze statue had been melted down,” he said, demanding an explanation from the Municipal Commissioner on the issue.
Stating that the needle of suspicion pointed to a ruling party leader from Vijayawada city, Mr. Shivaji said the municipal authorities should come out with facts, failing which the Congress party would take legal action.
The AICC leader also demanded re-installation of a bronze statue of freedom fighter Kakani Venkata Ratnam at Benz Circle.
