Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

BJP to step up Telangana campaign

HYDERABAD: The State BJP on Monday decided to step up the campaign for a separate Telangana by telling the people that a new State could be carved out only if the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance returned to power at the Centre.

Addressing the conveners of the Assembly and the Lok Sabha constituencies, party president Bandaru Dattatreya said the party was ready to face elections even if held in November this year. He asked the party functionaries to prepare the roadmap for taking up the Telangana issue in a big way. In doing so, the party would fill the vacuum created by the ‘failure’ of Telangana Rashtra Samiti.

He announced the constitution of a committee to chalk out details of the campaign on Telangana. Recalling that the BJP vote share jumped three fold to 18 per cent in 1998, he stated that a similar situation was now prevailing.

On the resignation of former Minister T. Devender Goud from the Telugu Desam Party, he said it was the direct consequence of the belittling manner in which the Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu treated the demand for a separate Telangana State. He further added that Mr. Goud’s action would strengthen the cause of separate statehood for Telangana and also serve as a warning to the Congress.

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