Cong not opposed to Telangana state: Sonia

Said the party would take up the issue on a priority basis

Congress president Sonia Gandhi today said her party was not opposed to a separate state for the Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh.

Addressing a public meeting at the Karimnagar constituency, which is currently represented by Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief K Chandrasekhara Rao, Gandhi said the Congress party would take up the Telangana issue on a priority basis.

In this context, she reminded the people that Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, in a statement in the Assembly, announced constituting an all-party legislative committee to look into the issue.

The Congress chief lashed out at the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) for its volte face on Telangana. “Having opposed the demand all along, it has now suddenly become the champion of the Telangana cause. Why did it block formation of the Telangana state while in power?” she asked.

In fact, since the first “separate Telangana” movement was launched in 1969, the issue of carving out the backward region from Andhra Pradesh cropped up in every election, whether it is for Parliament of the Legislative Assembly.

Even in the ensuing elections to the Lok Sabha and the state Assembly, Telangana emerged as a key issue with a potential to influence the outcome of the polls.

Consequently, every political party in the electoral fray in the state is talking about separate statehood for the region.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) promised Telangana state within 100 days of coming to power at the Centre. The party’s prime ministerial candidate, LK Advani, said that Telangana could have been formed along with Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand if the TDP, which was supporting the BJP government at the Centre between 1999 and 2004, had agreed to the proposal.

The Communist Party of India (CPI), which has always been a votary of “Visalandhra” ( a united Andhra), is supporting the Telangana cause, too. So is the TDP, which was against a separate statehood. It has promised Telangana if it is returned to power. Though opposed to a smaller state, the CPI (M) has now forged an electoral alliance with the TDP, TRS and CPI.

The Praja Rajyam Party, floated by actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi, also stated it would pass a resolution in the Assembly on the issue in accordance with the aspirations of the people.

The Telangana region, covering 10 districts including the state capital out of the 23 districts, accounts for 119 out of the 294 Assembly seats and 17 of the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies. It will go to polls in the first phase on April 16, along with the north coastal Andhra region.