AP BJP leaders to meet Kalam on Telangana today

Hyderabad, May 10 (UNI) BJP leaders from Andhra Pradesh will meet President A P J Abdul Kalam today at New Delhi and urge him to exert pressure on the government to announce separate Telangana.

BJP Senior Leader Ch Vidyasagar Rao told UNI the delegation would demand the separate state during its meeting with Dr Kalam as mentioned in the Presidential address to the joint session of Parliament and the Common Minimum Programme.

According to political analysts, with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) facing serious dissidence and many of its MPs and MLAs charged with human trafficking, the BJP wanted to take full advantage of the situation and gain strength in the Telangana Region by lending its support to the demand for a separate state.

The BJP had already established 'Telangana Sadhana Samiti' and the state leadership even reportedly ''prevailed'' on party President Rajnath Singh to openly announce his party's support for the formation of Telangana.

Mr Rao said the party would soon launch a campaign throughout the Telangana region. The party, which won only two Assembly seats (one from Telangana) during 2004 elections, would hope to improve its tally in the 2009 elections, he added.

He said fight for Telangana would be the main campaign slogan during the next elections.

The formation of Telangana would be possible only through a national party like the BJP and not through a regional party like the TRS, he claimed.

UNI