VIJAYAWADA: The city administration has pulled down the Kakani Venkata Ratnam's statue at the famous Benz Circle in Vijayawada late on Saturday night. The demolition was done to facilitate the construction of the flyover at the junction.
The officials have also demolished the roundtana structure. Tension prevailed, on the occasion, as YSRC leader and a member of Vigraha (statues) Committee, Yalamanchili Ravi, protested razing down the statue of Venkata Ratnam, one of the leaders who spearheaded the Jai Andhra movement and a former minister.
When Ravi tried to garland the statue as a protest against the demolition, Machavaram police forcibly took him into custody. Later, the statue was pulled down with the help of a proclainer in the presence of police forces.
Speaking to the media from the police station, Ravi, "The officials have illegally demolished the statue of Kakani Venkata Ratnam without giving any intimation to us. The police too behaved undemocratically. Even though we had asked them to give us two days' time to speak to the authorities concerned, they refused and pulled the structure down. "
He said that the police informed him that intimation was given to the local MLA. "But, the MLA is not the person responsible. We were the ones who erected the statue as a respect to the leader in 1990. So, we would have taken it down, if it was really necessary, and later protected it," he added.
Former MP Yalamanchili Sivaji also condemned the move, and said that Benz Circle and Kakani Venkata Ratnam's statue were a matter of sentiment to the people of Vijayawada and Guntur. "They did not even inform if they would reinstall the statue elsewhere, or they would just leave it abandoned," he complained.
On Sunday morning, a group of YSRC leaders staged a protest at the demolished structure, demanding that it be reinstalled.
However, Vijayawada (east) MLA Gadde Rammohan Rao said that the statue will be reinstalled in the same place after the completion of the flyover and NH expansion works.