New Delhi: With the agitation for separate
Telangana intensifying in Andhra Pradesh, the BJP today
exerted pressure on the Centre to bring a bill for carving out
a new state and accused Congress of "betraying" people of the
region.
Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha during Zero Hour,
Prakash Javdekar said, "If the government brings a bill for
separate Telangana, we will support it without doing the vote
politics."
He said while the demand for creation of Telangana has
been there for last 50 years, the Congress in 2004 had assured
its erstwhile ally TRS that the separate state would be
formed.
"They came into power. But they never brought the bill...
TRS kept on hoping that Madam (Sonia Gandhi) would do
something but nothing happened," Javdekar said.
He said Telgu Desam Party (TDP), which was earlier opposed
to the division of Andhra Pradesh is also supporting the
Telangana statehood now.
The BJP member said the people of the region, who feel
betrayed, have come out in the streets.
People of Telangana "are feeling betrayed continuously...
this policy of betrayal should end at least now," he said.
"Universities, colleges, schools are all closed...
agitating farmers and traders are up in arms," he said.
The TRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao, spearheading the
Telangana movement has been shifted to a hospital after he
undertook a fast unto death.
Telangana is considered to be the most backward among
the three regions in Andhra Pradesh.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, December 03, 2009, 14:56