TDP to press for NTR statue at Parliament

HYDERABAD: The Telugu Desam is likely to press Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar to take a decision soon on installing NT Ramarao’s statue at Parliament as decided by the Statues and Portraits Committee.A delegation of party MPs have met the speaker recently and requested her to take a decision on installing NTR and Alluri Sitarama Raju statues in the Parliament House Complex since they had been approved earlier.It may be recalled that during the last Lok Sabha session it was decided to install no more statues in the Parliament complex after installing those of NTR and Alluri. As per the directions, the TDP prepared a model statue of NTR and sent it for scrutiny by the Statues and Portraits Committee which suggested some changes which the TDP carried out.It is learnt that the NTR family feud is preventing the Lok Sabha speaker, who is also the chairman of the committee, from taking a final decision.NTR’s daughter and Union minister Daggubati Purandeswari wanted a statue presented by her to be installed. The TDP countered that Parliament had already decided to install a statue presented by it and the committee should stick to its decision.When the speaker asked the NTR family to sort out differences, TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu managed to get signatures of all members of NTR family, except Purandeswari, on a letter of request to speaker.“The decision has been pending for a long time. We will press the speaker to take a decision soon,” a TDP MP said. “There is no dispute with regard to who should present the statue. We had submitted a letter to the speaker long back,” he added.The speaker had already taken a decision not to install no more statues in the Central hall after installing NTR and Alluri. “Even statues of local leaders from Maharashtra were installed. Then why any second thoughts over the statues of national heroes like NTR and Alluri?” asked a former TDP MP.“At present, more than 50 statues and portraits of national and regional leaders adorn Parliament House and the Central Hall,” another party leader pointed out.