Botsa: No harm in two Telugu-speaking states

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PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana said there was nothing wrong if the Telugu-speaking people had two separate states. He was speaking about consensus among people and parties on the issue though his statement did seem to be in oblique support of separate statehood.

Talking to mediapersons here on Saturday, he asked rhetorically why the local people should not have two states when Hindi-speaking people had 13 and Tamil-speaking two. “People of all the regions have been aspiring for a peaceful atmosphere and their feelings should be respected. Since this is a sensitive issue, the Congress central leadership has been considering the situation from all the viewpoints. But that does not mean they are dodging the issue,” he said, adding that the Congress would strive for a permanent solution.

When some people were demanding a separate state and others were asking for a unified one, there was the need to provide an “solution agreeable to all,” the PCC chief said. He said the Telugu Desam had its own political interest in the T-issue with its chief N. Chandrababu Naidu changing his stance on the issue frequently. Providing separate statehood could not immediately be possible when there were mixed opinions among the people and various political parties, he said.