Never opposed creation of Telangana, says Advani

Bhopal, Apr 27: Senior BJP leader L K Advani today clarified that he had never opposed creation of Telangana, but opposed the Congress party's idea about a second state reorganisation commission when he was Union Home Minister in the NDA government.

''If anybody is guilty of duplicity and deceit on the issue of Telangana, it is the Congress President and not me'', he told reporters here clarifying media reports that he had turned down the demand for separate Telangana in 2002.

''The reports are misleading and the conclusion they draw about my stand on Telangana is untenable'', he said referring to his January 5, 2002 letter written to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. ''I challenge anybody to prove, from the context and contents of the above letter, that I had opposed the creation of Telangana'', he said during his ' Bharat Suraksha Yatra'.

Mr Advani said since the Congress was creating confusion about the BJP's stand on Telangana, he had challenged the Congress leadership to introduce the Telangana bill in Parliament during the coming session and declared that the BJP would support the bill.

''Any delay, on the part of the UPA government, to introduce the bill in Parliament would be further proof of the Congress party's duplicity'', he said.

Pointing out that the Congress and its ally Telangana Rashtra Samiti(TRS) had promised a separate state in the 2004 polls, the BJP leader said the promise was not fulfilled for nearly two years.

A major reason for this is the ''deep split''in the Congress party in Andhra Pradesh on the Telangana issue, he said, adding the Congress was stalling the demand under some pretext or the other and even attempting to blame the BJP for its own betrayal.

Clarifying his stand on creation of smaller states, Mr Advani said ''I was not in favour of a new state reorganisation commission since it was bound to set off vociferous demands and agitations for the creation of many other states''.

''I had laid down a broad principle- which I continue to believe to be sound, relevant and necessary even today- that the creation of any new state, including Telangana, should be backed by a consensus in the parent state'', Mr Advani added.

Stating that the demand for Telangana and Vidarbha predates the demand for Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal, he admitted that during the six years of NDA rule, the BJP did not act on it because its allies in Andhra Pradesh (TDP) and Maharashtra (Shiv Sena) did not support the reorganisation of the two states. With TDP then ruling in Hyderabad, there was no possibility of the AP Assembly passing a resolution in favour of Telangana, he added.

UNI

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