Bring Telangana Bill, BJP will support it: Advani

Adilabad, Oct 19: Accusing the UPA government of betraying the people over Telangana statehood demand, BJP leader LK Advani on Tuesday asked the Centre to move a bill for formation of the state in the winter session of Parliament and said his party would support it.

"A promise was made that the government was moving in the direction of formation of separate Telangana and a committee was formed. The committee submitted its report long back.

"But this government is watching as suicides are being committed for the (Telangana) cause", he said addressing his first meeting after his yatra entered Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh.

He alleged youth are committing suicides due to the "anger over being betrayed on the separate statehood promise".

Pointing to the victory of TRS in a by-election whose result was announced yesterday, Advani said the government could not delay the formation of Telangana anymore.

Prime Minister Manmohan singh should announce that Telangana will be formed during the winter session of Parliament, he said.

BJP, with its 116 members in the Lok Sabha and 50 in the Rajya Sabha, would fully support the formation of Telangana, Advani said.

"If it is democracy, the will of the people should be respected", he said.

Advani spoke briefly about the twin objectives of his yatra - elemination of corruption and bringing back black money from abroad.

The senior BJP leader would tour Telangana districts of Andhra Pradesh for two days before leaving for Arunachal Pradesh on October 20 as part of his yatra.

PTI