Giving a new twist to the State bifurcation issue, the BJP Seemandhra Udyama Committee on Sunday alleged that pro-Telangana forces were demanding a separate State neither due to Telangana sentiments nor self-respect but development achieved in the region in last two decades.
Speaking to reporters at the party office here, committee chairman Y Raghunath Babu said, “The fact is people of the region do not want to share fruits of development with people of other regions. So, they are using the words sentiment and self-respect.”
He said before Telangana was merged with Seemandhra, the latter was developed whereas the former was backward. “But in the last five decades, Telangana, especially Hyderabad and its surrounding areas, have developed at a fast pace. Now, Telangana is far more developed than Seemandhra and as the region is no longer in need of support from other regions, its leaders are trying to divide the State in the name of Telengana-sentiment,” he alleged.
Defying party line on the Telangana issue, the BJP Seemandhra Udyama Committee chairman said, “If leaders of Telangana are serious about separate statehood, they should not demand inclusion of Hyderabad in a separate state as all regions of the state have contributed to its development. The people of Seemandhra would not have objected to the bifurcation of state, had their region was also developed on a par with Telangana.”
“The BJP is for the bifurcation of the state but before that, it wants the government to allocate `50,000 crore for the development of Seemandhra. Apart from this, the government should also complete pending irrigation projects in the region so that it does not face water crisis after bifurcation. Once this is done, no one will create hurdles in the formation of a Telangana state”, he said.
Meanwhile, BJP national executive member Perala Chandrasekhar condemned the serial blasts at Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya. He said vote-bank politics and minority appeasement policies of the Bihar government had led to the terror attack at the Mahabodhi Temple.