Andhra govt erecting Tipu Sultan's statue in Kadapa for 'vote bank' politics, alleges BJP

BJP Andhra Pradesh co-incharge Sunil Deodhar alleged that the YSRCP government in the state is erecting the Tipu Sultan's statue in the Kadapa district for "vote bank" politics and warned of a large scale protest over the issue.

"The Jagan Mohan Reddy government in the state is erecting the Tipu Sultan's statue at the Kadapa district for mere a vote bank politics and the party will be going ahead with the larger scale agitation against the installation of the statue," Deodhar told ANI.

"Tipu Sultan was a barbaric king who killed thousands of Hindus and converted lakhs of Hindus to Islam. We cannot tolerate such act by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government," he said.

The BJP leader further alleged that the state government is already busy converting the people to Christianity.

"Now only for mere vote bank politics and to appease the locals in Kadapa region, where there is a sizeable vote of Muslims, the local MLA started Bhumi Puja without any permission from the local administration."

"Our leader protested against it and many of our leaders were arrested too. But we will not stop here. We are going ahead with larger-scale agitation against the installation of the Tipu Sultan's statue," he said.

"If they wanted to install the state of a Muslim personality, they would have opted for APJ Abdul Kalam," he added.

Earlier on Friday, Andhra Pradesh state BJP chief Somu Veerraju had issued a statement opposing the plan to erect Tipu Sultan's statue and said that it 'hurts the sentiments of Hindus'.

Veerraju further said that Proddutur town is synonymous with communal harmony, and erecting Tipu Sultan's statue may lead to tension in the area.

"Andhra Pradesh BJP is opposing the plan to erect the statue of Tipu Sultan in Proddutur town of Kadapa district. The local Muslims and MLA are trying to erect Tipu Sultan's statue. Hindus feel that their sentiments are hurt with the attempts to erect the statue of Tipu who had slaughtered a huge number of Indians," the BJP leader said.

(ANI)