Changes to State emblem are part of reviving Telangana’s glory and not aimed at individuals: Revanth Reddy

Revanth Reddy aims to revive Telangana's glory, highlighting Martyrs' sacrifices, amid opposition from BRS and KCR.

Dismissing the claims of the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) that the Congress government was trying to erase BRS chief K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s legacy, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy maintained that his efforts were to revive the Telangana glory and the Martyrs’ sacrifices that were undermined by the BRS government for personal aggrandizement of KCR.

Telangana is not about individuals or chief ministers, who will be many in the future including him and KCR, but the Martyrs’ sacrifices for a separate State will stay forever. “I am trying to bring them back into Telangana’s legacy as the previous BRS government worked with the sole intention of promoting one family ignoring the real heroes,” he said in an informal chat with reporters here.

The very opposition by the BRS to the government’s proposal to include a Martyrs’ memorial in the new State emblem indicated the mindset of KCR and his son K.T. Rama Rao, he said and wanted to know to what length will they go to stop this. The proposed change is hurting them badly, he charged.

Mr. Revanth Reddy said he has a personal opinion against the symbols of monarchy getting into the State symbols and this is a democratically elected government and not a kingdom. However, he said his personal opinion doesn’t matter and the Congress government would take the opinion of the Cabinet and other stakeholders.

“The recommendations of the Cabinet sub-committee on the State emblem, headed by Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka, will be discussed in the Assembly. We are a government that listens and not like a single man taking all the decisions,” he said taking a dig at KCR. “We made our intentions clear on changing the emblem in the Assembly earlier. And this is not sudden move.”

Many Opposition MLAs would be joining the Congress after the Parliament elections as there would be a lot of churning in the BRS and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Chief Minister said. He claimed that BRS leaders have lost confidence in KCR’s party. In fact, KCR and his family also have lost confidence in the party and that is why they stayed away from contesting in the Parliament elections.

On the phone tapping controversy, he said the investigation into such cases looks at the primary beneficiary of such actions. Even if KCR denied his role, the confessional statements of the arrested officers indicate that he is the beneficiary. “I have not reviewed the case nor I have spoken to the officials due to the election code. I can share more details only after reviewing it,” he said.