Bandi threatens to demolish \"Nizam culture\" domes of new TS Secretariat

Hyderabad: Two days after TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy sparked controversy by insinuating that Maoists should blow up the Pragathi Bhavan because the general public lacked access to the CM’s official residence, BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar threatened on Friday to tear down the domes built on the newly constructed Secretariat by the BRS government if his party was voted to power because they represented the "Nizam's culture”. The BJP state president also declared that Pragathi Bhavan would be converted into a Praja Darbar.

Speaking at a street corner gathering in the Kukatpally Assembly constituency limits as part of the ‘Janam Gosa-BJP Bharosa’ programme, Sanjay said that the BJP, if voted to power, would decimate all structures that symbolised slavery and atrocities committed under the Nizam regime. The BJP state president accused the CM of constructing the Secretariat complex solely to please his political ally Asaduddin Owaisi, AIMIM president.

"If we are elected to power, we will destroy the cultural symbols of the Nizam era in Telangana, including the domes of the recently constructed Secretariat. We will make suitable changes that reflect the Indian and Telangana culture. The CM had turned the people's Secretariat into a ‘samadhi’ similar to the Taj Mahal in Agra to appease the Owaisi brothers. We shall make acceptable alterations that reflect the Indian and Telangana culture," he stated.

In response to minister K.T.Rama Rao’s statement in the Assembly that the government was proposing to enact legislation to relocate religious structures hindering road projects, Sanjay challenged the BRS government to first demolish the mosques that were built in the middle of the roads in the Old City.

Further, Sanjay alleged that several plots of land in Kukatpally had been grabbed by the leaders of the ruling party, and that when people lodged complaints, they were booked in false cases.

Sanjay claimed that the BJP received an incredible response throughout the state and that the purpose of the street-corner meetings was to inform the people about the “feudalist family rule” of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi and the accomplishments of the Narendra Modi government. “The CM is confined to either his farmhouse or Pragathi Bhavan. He is least bothered about issues of public importance. The government employees have not been paid their salaries and development took a backseat,” he alleged.

The BJP representative asserted that Hyderabad contributes 60% of the state's revenue and wanted an explanation from the state government regarding the funds allocated to Hyderabad's development.