Telangana statehood demand: Rajnath Singh accuses Congress of betrayal

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Rajnath Singh on Monday hit out at the Congress-led UPA Government for backtracking on its promise of creating a separate state of Telangana to be carved out of Andhra Pradesh.

"Even the President of our country addressed the joint parliamentary session and said that a separate Telangana state would be created, which was actually a communication by the UPA Government to the nation. I want to convey to the friends of this Congress Government that promises should not be made unless they are sure of fulfilling the same," he said.

Singh also promised that if the BJP comes to power at the Centre their government would accomplish this demand.

"If our government comes to power then we would surely create a separate Telangana state and this is a commitment from us to the people of Telangana region," he said.

Congress MPs G Vivek, M Jagannath and senior party leader K Keshav Rao, who had quit the ruling party over the Telangana issue, formally joined TRS on Sunday in the presence of its president K Chandrasekhar Rao at a public meeting in Hyderabad.

Congress Party has so far played safe on the Telangana statehood demand, saying it is a very sensitive matter and a decision in this regard would be taken at an appropriate time.

The four-decade-old demand for Telangana, which is to be carved out of the economically less developed part of Andhra Pradesh, gathered momentum after the Congress party ruled government accepted the demand in principle.