The Hindu : Front Page : Advani promises Bill on Telangana

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Friday, Nov 14, 2008
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Advani promises Bill on Telangana

Y. Mallikarjun

‘It will be introduced within 100 days if NDA is voted back to power’

PHOTO: P.V. SIVAKUMAR

ON A HIGH: Leader of the Opposition L. K. Advani, accompanied by M. Venkaiah Naidu and Bandaru Dattatreya, wave to the crowd after being brought to the dais in a lotus elevator at the Parade Grounds on Thursday. —

HYDERABAD: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Lal Krishna Advani has promised to introduce a Bill for carving out separate Telangana State within 100 days if the National Democratic Alliance was voted back to power.

Criticising the Congress and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti for “betraying the people” after securing their mandate for creating a separate State, he urged the people to give the requisite majority to the NDA if they wanted Telangana.

Recalling the BJP’s known stand favouring smaller States for effective administration, he said Telangana would have become a reality had the parties, now supporting the cause, backed the NDA then.

Addressing a huge public meeting as part of the BJP’s ‘Vijay Sankalp Yatra’ at the Parade Grounds here on Thursday, Mr. Advani cited the presence of Left-wing balladeer Gadar at the meeting as evidence to show that BJP alone had the credibility on the Telangana issue.

At the same time, he cautioned the parties supporting Telangana not to believe the Left as “the Communists could betray you anytime”. He said the Left joined hands with the UPA to keep out the NDA in 2004 and expressed fears that they may repeat the same in 2009 in spite of their current differences.

He said terrorism had increased under the UPA regime as it had surrendered itself to the terrorists while the price rise put undue burden on the common man. “The UPA has failed on all fronts. This is a government that will go down in history for its betrayal of the common man for five long years,” he said.

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