Hyderabad, Dec 6 : The Congress government in Telangana has invited former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Union Ministers G. Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay Kumar for the unveiling of Telangana Talli (Mother Telangana) statue in the State Secretariat.

Day after Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy announced that the government is inviting the Leader of Opposition K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) to the first anniversary celebrations of the government, Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar said on Friday that he has sought time to meet the three leaders to handover the invitations.

Prabhakar said Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) President KCR, Union Minister for Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy and Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar will be invited to attend the ceremony to unveil Telangana Talli statue in the State Secretariat on December 9.

The Transport Minister as the Hyderabad in-charge minister will invite the BRS and BJP leaders. He said he had informed the personal staff of KCR and the Central ministers to give time to meet them to handover the invitations.

'Once they give the time, I will go and meet them to invite them on behalf of the Telangana government,' he said. The minister requested the three leaders to attend the event.

Earlier, a statement from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said that former Chief Minister KCR would be invited to the three-day grand finale of 'Praja Palana Vijayotsavalu' (people's governance victory celebrations).

The celebrations are being organised to mark the completion of first year of the Congress government in the state.

Addressing a programme as part of the celebrations on Thursday, the Chief Minister said he was inviting KCR to attend the celebrations.

He also went around the Secretariat where the statue is set to be unveiled. The Chief Minister had laid the foundation for the statue on August 28.

It was on December 9, 2009, that the then Congress-led UPA government announced that the process for the formation of Telangana State would be initiated.

December 9 also coincides with the birthday of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. The Chief Minister stated that Sonia Gandhi fulfilled the decades-old dream of the Telangana people to have their own state.

After Congress came to power last year, the Chief Minister announced that it would prepare a new design for Telangana Talli as the one designed by the previous BRS government does not reflect the richness of rural Telangana.

/IANS