Hyderabad: Taking objection to the absence of the BRS MLAs from the House during the discussion on Telangana Thalli, Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu on Monday said that it has been proved that the opposition leaders have love only for power.

The BRS leaders should have come to the House and expressed their opinion on the installation of the statue of Telangana Thalli. Speaking in the discussion on the statement made by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy in the Assembly on the installation of the statue of Telangana Thalli, Bhatti Vikramarka said, “If we see BRS MLAs staying away from the Assembly, all the members feel that they have no love for Telangana and the installation of the statue of Telangana Thalli. On December 13, 2014, in the same Assembly, the then leader of the House—the CM—spoke in the Assembly, stating, “I am sincerely grateful to Sonia Gandhi. Telangana was formed only because of her initiative. No one needs to doubt that. I am once again officially expressing my gratitude to them in the Assembly records.”

“The members should be present in the House and thank Sonia Gandhi, who was the reason for the formation of Telangana. The entire House should be unanimous in thanking her for her announcement that made the dreams of the Telangana martyrs come true,” the Dy CM added.

Bhatti said, “It would have been better if KTR and Harish were present in the House and expressed their opinions. We ran the House in the Undivided AP State where there were differences of opinion, and when the Telangana Bill came up for discussion, I, as Deputy Speaker, and Sridhar Babu, as the Minister of Legislative Affairs, gave everyone a chance. That day, everyone stayed in the House and expressed their opinions; no one left the House,” recalled Bhatti.

Addressing a gathering following installation of the Telangana Thalli statue, Bhatti felt that the BRS leadership which was critical of the change in the image of the Telangana Thalli was never serious about the matter. Had it been an important issue for them they would have installed it during their tenure, he said, adding that the present statue reflects the features of a mother, sister and grandmother of everyone who resides in Telangana.