Congress criticses BJP for its support of Telangana

New Delhi, Apr 21: The Congress today came down heavily on the BJP for "now supporting a separate state" of Telangana in Andhra Pradesh, and asked the Opposition party to refrain from exploiting the sentiments of the people of the Telangana region after ignoring their demand throughout during its association with the TDP.

AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh said in a statement here that the BJP did not even mention statehood for Telangana in the last election that it contested along with the TDP.

He was reacting to the reported statement of senior BJP leader L K Advani at a public rally in Hyderabad a few days ago offering his party's support if the Congress-led UPA government introduced a Bill in Parliament in the next month's session.

Mr Advani had said the BJP had time and again said it was for creation of smaller states for administrative convenience.

Mr Singh said the BJP had promised creation of a separate state in its election manifesto during the 1998 Lok Sabha election.

But being in power at the Centre, it did not keep up its promise, he added.

"The BJP is known for its double speak and political opportunism. Now that the party is issueless and friendless in Andhra Pradesh, it wants to exploit the sentiments of the people of Telangana region," he said referring to the change of stand of the BJP in the context of the TDP leaving NDA.

On the other hand, the Congress has always been consistent on its stand of the socio-economic development of Telangana region, he added.

"We had mentioned about it in our election manifesto also. The process of consultation and arriving at a consensus among the UPA partners is already on and decision will be taken once the Pranab Mukherjee committee report is submitted to the UPA," he said.

Mr Singh appealed to Mr Advani and the BJP not to "unnecessarily" exploit sentiments of the people of Telangana region whom they have ignored throughout during their association with the TDP.

UNI