Telangana Rashtra Samiti leaders KT Rama Rao and B. Vinod called on Union Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde in New Delhi on Thursday and urged him to ensure that an announcement on Telangana was made without any further delay.
The two leaders of the separatist party sought to convey to him that the fear of spurt in Naxalism in smaller states was unfounded and recalled the fact that Naxalism had existed much before smaller states were carved out of Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.
The two leaders explained to the Union minister that Naxalism grew on account of social and economic disparities and wanted him to tackle the issue on that front.
VIVEKANDA’S LETTER
Taking strong exception to the statement of Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde that the Naxalite factor was coming in the way of formation of Telangana state, Congress MP from Peddapalli, G Vivekanand, said on Thursday that Maoist movement was totally wiped out from the region by the efforts of successive governments in the state.
The MP felt that granting statehood to Telangana region would create employment opportunities to young and pave the way for overall development of the region, leading to complete elimination of Maoist activities from the region.
In a letter wrote to Shinder on Thursday, the MP claimed that Maoist movement was more prevalent now in coastal Andhra than in Telangana.
“Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam districts in north Andhra and Khammam district in Telangana have now become hotbeds of Naxalite activities. Andhra region shares a 400-km-long border with Odisha and a 220-kmlong border with Chhattisgarh, where extremism is widely prevalent” Vivekanand said in his letter.