The Telangana Rashtra Samiti on Friday flayed Prime Minister Manmo-han Singh’s comments on the need for a consensus before granting statehood to Telangana and asserted that the party would not compromise on the issue of separate statehood.
“The PM’s comment is quite amusing. Can he cite any issue that has consensus in a democracy? The Centre accepted the Tela-ngana demand but backed out later due to (pressure from) Seemandhra moneybags,” TRS Floor Leader in the Assembly Etala Rajender said.
He took exception to MP Kavuri Sambasiva Rao leading a team of Seema-ndhra Congress MPs and submitting a petition to the PM, urging him to dismiss the Telangana demand and announce continuation of “Samaikhya Andhra”.
“The demand for a separate Telangana is a long-cherished dream of the people of this region. To say that everything will be in order within six months of announcement of Sama-ikhya Andhra is unwise. The people have given an unequivocal verdict on Telangana time and again,” he said.
According to Mr Rajender, any party which opposes the formation of Telangana would be wiped out in any election in the region.
Reacting sarcastically to the PM’s comment, TJAC leader Vittal said, “He has no power. He is right in his comments made to a CPI delegation (that) the real power lies with Mrs Sonia Gandhi and she has to take a decision.”
State BJP president G. Kishan Reddy, who returned to from Delhi on Friday after a three-day satyagraha, said the party would not accept anything less than Telangana, with Hyderabad as the proposed state’s capital. Mr Reddy said BJP took the Telang-ana issue to New Delhi and had planned to raise it issue in Parliament, had the House functioned normally.