Carve out Telangana without further delay, says Sushma Swaraj

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj Saturday asked the central government to carve out separate Telangana state without further delay and warned the Congress against another betrayal.

Addressing a public meeting at Mahabubnagar, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha demanded that the bill for formation of Telangana state be tabled in the winter session of the parliament and assured full support from her party.

She said the government has two months to hold talks and sort out all the issues between Telangana and Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra) to pave way for bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

Pointing out that even 60 days after the Congress Working Committee's decision, the central government has not taken any step to carve out separate Telangana state, the BJP leader said this was creating doubts. Referring to the ongoing protests in Seemandhra, she said immediate formation of Telangana state alone can restore normalcy.

"If Telangana bill is not tabled in parliament during the winter session, people of the region will never trust Congress party," she said while accusing the party of betraying the people many a times in the past.

She also demanded that the Telangana bill should be in line with the CWC decision to carve out Telangana state comprising 10 districts with Hyderabad as its capital.

She accused the Congress of failing to take its own leaders in the state into confidence while taking the decision and pointed out how its own chief minister is speaking against the decision and how its MPs were stalling parliament.

Sushma Swaraj said if the central government failed to bring Telangana bill in the winter session, she would lead the second phase of the struggle to achieve the separate state.

She denied that BJP had taken a U-turn on Telangana as it was moving towards an alliance with Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

"We have not discussed the alliance. I will not say anything about future because an alliance with any party is possible but I want to assure you that alliance or no alliance, we will not change our stand on Telangana," she told the meeting.

BJP state chief G. Kishan Reddy, senior leaders Bandaru Dattatreya, Vidyasagar Rao and Telangana Joint Action Committee convenor M. Kodandaram also addressed the meeting.