Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has faulted Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy’s statement that he would make every effort till the last to halt Telangana by preventing bifurcation of the State.
“If he is so committed to the cause of ‘Samaikyandhra’ (keeping the State united), let him quit as the Chief Minister and speak whatever he likes. He can’t speak against the decades-old aspirations of one region’s people by leading a united entity,” TRS MLA K.T. Rama Rao said here on Friday.
Self-esteem matters
Mr. Rao sought to know why the Chief Minister was not able to admit that Telangana people’s demand for self-rule was part of their self-respect, when the separation of Andhra from Madras State was for self-esteem. “In spite of claiming himself to be sportsperson, he (Mr. Kiran Reddy) has never shown that sportsman spirit,” he remarked.
Mr. Rama Rao also faulted the reports sent by the State government to the Group of Ministers (GoM). “When all the Union Ministers and his Cabinet colleagues were accepting the Centre’s decision in spite of their opposition to bifurcation, why was the Chief Minister adopting an adamant stand?”
On the Chief Minister’s remark that Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam projects would never have become a reality if there were two States, the TRS general secretary said the survey for Nagarjunasagar was completed much before Andhra’s merger with Hyderabad State was proposed and its stone project in 1955.
But for changes made in the project site by Andhra Pradesh, the original site would have irrigated over 10 lakh acres in Telangana against less than 5 lakh acres now, he added.
