Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh on Sunday said the success of the recent Telangana March by the protagonists of the separate State brought the issue back into limelight at the national level.
Participating in a breakfast meeting with Telangana Congress MPs, he said the Central government was continuing its parleys with different sections on the separate State issue, but it was difficult to fix a timeframe for a final decision. The talk of carving out separate Telangana was in the air for the last three decades, but nothing materialised so far, he recalled. The meeting was held at Congress MP Madhu Yashki’s residence.
Telangana Joint Action Committee chairman M. Kodandaram said there were positive indications from New Delhi on the separate State issue and there was need for a united struggle up by all parties and groups to ensure that these indications fructify. He appealed to Mr. Ajit Singh to extend his party’s support in this regard.
Congress senior leader K. Keshav Rao appreciated the RLD chief for his party’s consistent support to smaller States.
He clarified that the ruling Congress had nothing to do with the RLD State unit claiming both the parties had their own agendas to follow.
Later speaking to media persons after launching the Telangana unit of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, Mr. Singh said there was no issue at all if the mood of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government on Telangana front was known.
57-member executive
Mr. Singh who is the national president of RLD released on the occasion a 57 member executive of the unit with Mohammed Riyaz as working president.
He told a meeting in this connection that the RLD would contest elections to local bodies in Telangana whenever they were held. The party was making a foray into State politics to strengthen the separate Telangana movement.
His son and Mathura MP Jayanth said the party had always advocated smaller States. It will raise separate Telangana at any political platform.
MLC K. Dilip Kumar, whose wife Indira is the honorary president of Telangana unit of the party, said RLD will field candidates in the elections to Assembly and Parliament in the region.
