Separate statehood for Telangana if BJP comes to power: Rajnath Singh

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party President Rajnath Singh on Sunday asserted that if BJP forms a government at the Centre, they will definitely agree to the demand for a separate statehood of Telangana.

“Telangana state should be made. It is BJP’s firm conviction that the day we come to power at the Centre, we will create Telangana state,” he told the media here on Sunday. Earlier, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) had a meeting with the lawmakers from the state on July 26 to discuss the creation of separate Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh. While the lawmakers from Telengana Region support the creation of a separate state, those belonging to the rest of the State oppose the division of the State. The Telangana Movement was organized to support the creation of a new state from the existing state of Andhra Pradesh. The long-standing demand of the people behind the movement has been that a separate state was the only solution to ending the neglect and exploitation in the region. The demand for the separate state has witnessed violent protests and political power play, with hundreds of lives lost between 1969 and 1972. Congress MPs from Telangana have accused the Centre of following what they call a ‘one-step-forward-two-backward’ approach when it comes to addressing their demand for a separate state. The Centre’s flip-flop over the issue began in December 2009 when the then Home Minister P. Chidambaram promised the formation of a new state only to go back on it after a few days. The issue was later pushed before a committee headed by Justice B.N. Srikrishna. This panel did not come up with a tangible solution, but instead presented six options. These included the creation of a Telangana Regional Council within Andhra, bifurcation of the state into Telangana with Hyderabad as the capital and Seemandhra with a new capital; bifurcation of the state into Seemandhra and Telangana after making Hyderabad a Union Territory; bifurcation of the state into Seemandhra and Telangana with enlarged Hyderabad metropolis as a Union Territory; bifurcation of the state into Rayala Telangana and Coastal Andhra; and maintenance of status quo. ANI