Naidu makes Telangana noises

A day after the BJP strongman L K Advani reiterated his party’s promise of granting statehood to Telangana in three months if the NDA is elected to power in 2014, the party’s erstwhile friend and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu wanted to know why the same Advani had rejected the separate statehood demand when NDA was in power.

Speaking to mediapersons at Delhi, Naidu slammed the BJP leadership, which had highlighted the statehood issue by undertaking a threeday dharna in the national capital, and accused it of politicising the issue.

“Had they discussed the Telangana issue when they were in power at the Centre? But now they are showering promises on the people of Telangana only to politicise the issue,” he said. However he hastened to add that his own party would clarify its stand on the issue soon.

In Delhi to meet the Prime Minister, Naidu was also accosted by Congress MPs from Telangana in the central hall of Parliament. The delegation of MPs, headed by Gutta Sukhender Reddy, sought the TDP chief’s cooperation, asking him to send a letter to the Centre extending his support for Telangana soon. The MPs claimed that Naidu had accepted their request.

Meanwhile Naidu also claimed that his meeting with Manmohan Singh, in which he sought support for his ‘BC agenda’, had positive outcomes with Singh agreeing to it.

“I have requested the Prime Minister to set up a separate ministry in the Union cabinet for the welfare of BCs and allocate 25 per cent funds in the Union budget for them. We are giving two months time to the Prime minister to do this. In case he fails to implement our demand, we will take up a national-wide agitation,” Naidu warned.