Date:10/05/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/05/10/stories/2005051011140400.htm

Andhra Pradesh

`No going back on Telangana'

Staff Reporter

NSUI activists protest against Vijayashanti's `separatist' talk in Andhra region NSUI activists cry foul over Vijayashanti's `separatist' talk in Andhra region

STRIDENT POSTURE: BJP leader and film star, Vijayshanti, warning NSUI activists as she comes out after opening a jewellery shop in Visakhapatnam on Monday. Photo: K.R. Deepak

VISAKHAPATNAM: Film actress Vijayashanti vowed here on Monday to fight for a separate Telangana and claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party's support to her.

Even as the press conference she was addressing was in progress, she had to face noisy protest from some activists of the National Students Union of India deploring her "separatist stance''.

Ms. Vijayashanti said that she was concerned about backwardness in Andhra and Rayalaseema as well as Telangana, but would fight for separate Telangana. The actress-turned-politician claimed that she was still in the BJP and wondered why that question was raised frequently. She also expressed confidence that the BJP would support her fight for Telangana.

``I will fight for people but not for any position of power,'' she asserted. She defended the BJP stance in the last elections citing its alliance with the Telugu Desam Party and also recalled the Kakinada resolution where the BJP committed itself to statehood for Telangana.

Declaring that her fight for Telangana would begin soon, she said she could not disclose everything now. "You will see it for yourself in future,'' she said.

NSUI protest

Ms. Vijayashanti's press conference was arranged at a shopping complex, where she inaugurated a jeweller's wedding collection. A large number of people gathered to have a glimpse of the actress prompting an elated Vijayashanti to declare that she owed everything to her fans. As soon as she expressed her resolve to fight for Telagana, some NSUI activists obstructed her shouting she should not talk of a separate Telangana while participating in a function in the Andhra region.

An angry Vijayashanti retorted: "I won't stop (my movement) cowed down by your protest. Go and tell your views to Congress leaders.'' She said she would not be cowed down by the TDP either.

The actress had to end her press conference amid slogans of "down, down'' by the NSUI activists. Later, the activists, carrying NSUI flags, tried to stop her vehicle too but the police intervened.