BJP wants bill on Telangana before polls

Hyderabad, Feb 21 (UNI) The BJP in Andhra Pradesh today demanded that the United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre introduce a bill in Parliament for creation of Telangana, ahead of the next Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

Party state unit President Bandaru Dattatreya told reporters here that Party President Rajnath Singh and BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani had stated clearly that the party was ready to support the bill on Telangana.

Contending that regional disparities was 'creation' of the Congress, the BJP leader demanded that the State Government come out with a white paper on the funds allocated for development of backward regions in the state.

He dismissed as ''hypothetical'' the question whether the party would support the TRS in the event of the party MPs and MLAs resigning from their seats on the Telangana issue.

The party had collected lakhs of signatures by visiting over 5,000 villages in Telangana in support of a separate state, he added.

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