KARIMNAGAR: In what could be termed as a height of sycophancy, Congress leaders of Malyal mandal in this district have constructed a permanent ‘temple’ for their party president Sonia Gandhi in the mandal headquarters—ostensibly as a token of their gratitude to her for granting statehood to Telangana in keeping with the aspirations of the people of the region.
These Congress leaders were hoping that their party would come to power in the new state and that they could ensure a grand inauguration of the ‘temple’ on the Telangana state formation day on Monday but their hopes were shattered by the TRS which snatched the reins of power here. So, they had to make do with a low-key inauguration by Jagtial MLA, T Jeevan Reddy, who was the lone Congress nominee to win an Assembly seat in the district in the recent elections, in the presence of former Karimnagar MP Ponnam Prabhakar and other congress leaders. The ‘temple’ houses an ‘idol’ of Sonia Gandhi, in the form of a marble bust, which was brought from Rajasthan at a cost of Rs. 50,000.
Behind the bust, is a picture of former Prime Minister and her late husband Rajiv Gandhi. And on either side of the bust are painted pictures of former PM and Rajiv’s mother Indira Gandhi and Congress vice-president and Sonia-Rajiv’s son Rahul Gandhi.
Mandal Congress president Nella Rajeshwar Reddy and former Mandal Parishad president Dara Adi Reddy had taken the initiative to build the ‘temple’ soon after Sonia had announced the decision to create a separate Telangana state, following which some TDP leaders of Seemandhra built a ‘tomb’ for her in Tirupati.
The duo raised about Rs. 2.50 lakh through donations from the public for the construction of the ‘temple’. Among other things, the ‘ t empl e ’ boas t s of a ‘gopuram’, temple-like doors set in granite doorframes and also bells.