BSP for separate Telangana: Mayawati

Hyderabad, Jan 6 (UNI) Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today said her party would take steps to form a separate Telangana if it came to power at the Centre in the next general elections.

Addressing a public meeting organised by the party state unit at Nizam College Grounds here, Ms Mayawati said her party would carve out Telangana by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh immediately after assuming power at the Centre.

Alleging that the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre and the Andhra Pradesh Government have ''cheated'' the people of Telangana by not realising their dream for a separate Telangana state, she called upon the BSP workers to strive to win more Lok Sabha seats from the state for paving the way to form a BSP-led government at the Centre.

Meanwhile, Telangana Rastra Samithi (Narendra) leader and former Union Minister A Narendra merged the party with the BSP in the presence of Ms Mayawati at the meeting.

Mr Narendra was expelled from the TRS after his name was figured in the human trafficking case, which came to light with the arrest of BJP MP Babubhai Katara in New Delhi last year.

Ms Mayawati made it clear that her party would not entertain film stars to join the BSP as they were confined only to acting. They did not know the problems faced by the poor and could not render justice to the society as political leaders.

Appealing to the state party unit not to invite any film stars to the party, she said the BSP's ideology was to work with the party workers and serve the poor.

Telugu matinee idol Chiranjeevi was preparing the ground to enter politics by taking the membership of the BSP. Chiranjeevi's younger brother Pavan Kalyan, who is also a film artiste, held discussions with the BSP state leaders for Chiranjeevi's entry into politics.

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