Click to play videoHyderabad: Y S Jaganmohan Reddy - the only son of late chief minister Dr YSR Reddy - wants to make his father an immortal figure by building the largest memorial of its kind in the country at the site where the chopper carrying his father died.
Jagan's visit to the crash site at the Nallamalla forest in Kurnool district with lakhs of followers was aimed at sending out a clear message: he alone is the true inheritor of the YSR legacy at a time when there is still a campaign on to make him Andhra chief minister.
The proposed memorial will be built on 1,412 hectares of forest land.
The AP government says it wants to develop the memorial - at an antipciated cost of around Rs 315 crore - into an important tourist attraction, to be readied by September next year.
AP Information Minister Geetha Reddy, says, "We should have a very befitting memorial monument for him (YSR) and the department which has come up with the project right now is the forest department."
But, not everybody is convinced of the idea and questions are being raised over possible environmental damage.
However, Jagan's supporters in the Andhra Cabinet - who are still pushing his chief ministerial credentials - maintain that these objections have no substance.
Ever since YSR died almost a month ago, there have been a series of announcements by the government aimed at keeping his image alive in public consciousness. Now, with this proposed memorial, it seems that the Andhra Pradesh government is determined to cash in on the goodwill the former chief minister had, even if it raises questions over government priorities.
(With inputs from D P Satish in New Delhi)
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