Nothing short of T state acceptable: Keshava Rao

Hyderabad: Ridiculing Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy for his reported proposal to give a huge package of Rs one lakh crore for Telangana instead of bifurcating the state at the recently held Congress Core Group meeting, TRS Secretary General K Keshava Rao on Wednesday said nothing short of Telangana was acceptable to the people of the region. Addressing the press here, he said by proposing a package, the Chief Minister admitted that the region was backward and lagged behind in all aspects including employment , education , irrigation and fund allocations for welfare and development programmes since the Telangana was merged with Andhra in 1956. People were denied justice even after the successive governments brought several acts. The only option before the Centre was to carve out the state respecting the sentiments of T people, he said. " We will not accept any package except Telangana state that existed before its merger," Rao said and alleged that the Congress leaders, ministers, MPs and MLAs of T region betrayed people by supporting the Chief Minister, who strongly advocated united Andhra. He also took strong exception to the Chief Minister's remarks in the core committee meeting that naxalism will revive in Telangana once the state is bifurcated. The extremism had its roots first in Seemandhra region and not in Telangana. Most of the leaders in the naxal movement also hailed from non Telangana region, The TRS leader said and added that the naxalism was not a political problem but a socio- economical issue. Referring to the statement made by AICC incharge of state affairs Digvijay Singh, that it would take 215 days to complete the process for the formation of Telangana, Rao said, if the Centre is sincere, it would take note more than one month to create the state. Reiterating that T- state will be achieved through TRS only, Rao said the Congress resorted to back-stabbing politics for political gains on the contentious issue.