Vajpayee's statue should be erected at Polavaram project site, says Andhra BJP

Andhra Pradesh BJP General Secretary Vishnuvardhan Reddy on Sunday demanded a statue of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee be erected at the Polavaram project site.

"If any statue is to be erected at Polavaram project, that should be that of Atal Bihari Vajpayee," Reddy said.

His statement comes amid the YSRCP government's announcement to erect a 100 ft statue of late Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy, who is also the father of Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy.

"It is a national project being constructed by the Central government. Earlier TDP government and now the present YSRCP government are using the project for their corrupt practices. They have no right to erect statues of their leaders. Vajpayee is the leader who started rivers interlinking in India. So erecting his statue at the Polavaram national project will be the appropriate decision," said Vishnuvardhan Reddy.

Affirming that the Polavaram project will be completed on time, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that 100 feet statue of DR YS Rajasekhar Reddy would be installed at the site for his initiatives for the take-off of the project.

Rounding up the short discussion on Polavaram in the state Assembly, the Chief Minister on Thursday claimed the shoddy handling of the project by the previous TDP government and assured that the question of reducing the height (45.72 meters) does not arise and water will be given for Kharif 2022.

CM Jagan had said, "The corruption and mismanagement were so rampant during the previous government that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has commented that Polavaram has become an ATM for Chandrababu Naidu. We have made efforts and tried to clear the mess Chandrababu Naidu has created on Polavaram by agreeing to 2014 prices, accepting the special packages and taking over the project from the Centre."

The Polavaram Project is an under-construction multi-purpose irrigation project on the Godavari River in Andhra Pradesh.

( With inputs from ANI )