Even Britishers did not do what Sonia did to AP: Jagan Reddy

Launching a fresh protest against bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, YSR Congress leader Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday accused Sonia Gandhi of dividing the state for political gains.

Referring to Sonia Gandhi's Italian background, he dubbed the Indian National Congress as "Italian National Congress" and said, "Even Britishers did not do what she did to my state of Andhra Pradesh".

Sitting on a dharna along with a large numbers of supporters at Jantar Mantar here, Jagan charged that the ruling party came up with the idea of dividing the state with the sole aim of making Rahul Gandhi Prime Minister as it hoped to win some seats by aligning with TRS in Telangana.

He said the use of a pepper spray by a Congress MP in Parliament to protest the state's division was a Congress conspiracy to suspend Seemandhra MPs.

"Congress has engineered the chaos. They have plotted it... Knowing very well that their fortunes are down to practically zero, these people have ignited passions. Months before elections they have broken my state," he charged.

The Seemandhra MPs were "undemocratically" suspended by Parliament to muzzle their voice. "The ruling party wanted to push through the Bill to create Telangana without any debate," he said.

The YSR Congress leader said that he would support anybody, including BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, if they support the move to keep Andhra united.

Jagan has met leaders from various political parties, seeking their support for keeping the state united.