Date:17/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/17/stories/2008101759770800.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

NTPP chief to lead all-party team to Delhi

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Nava Telangana Praja Party president T. Devender Goud on Thursday said an all-party delegation would leave for New Delhi in a special train on October 19, to lobby for introduction of separate Telangana Bill in the coming session of the Parliament.

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Goud said the delegation would camp in Delhi for four days and meet All-India Congress Committee president, Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, L. K. Advani, Union Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar, and Janata Dal leader, George Fernandes.

He said he had extended invitation to all the political parties in the State, including the Telugu Desam, barring of course CPI (M) ‘as its stand against creation of more States was well-known’.

Mobilising support

As part of the efforts to mobilise support from all parties, senior NTPP leader, E. Peddi Reddy met State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Bandaru Dattatreya on Thursday. He would meet other leaders, including TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu, in the next two days.

To a question on the demands for merger of Anantapur with Karnataka, separate Rayalaseema and union territory status for Hyderabad, Mr. Goud termed it as a “drama enacted by the Chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, to confuse people.