'Development' remarks anger Telengana leaders

Lily

B.R
Staff member
Hyderabad: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders from Telangana have taken strong exception to some remarks made by members of the Srikrishna Committee.

Senior TDP leader and convenor of TDP Telangana Forum, Nagam Janardhan Reddy, said yesterday the remarks were provocative and have hurt the sentiments of Telangana people.

"Some members of the committee were quoted as saying that Muslims and Christians want development. Yes, they want development, but in a separate state of Telangana," he told reporters.

The former minister warned that if the Srikrishna Committee recommended against formation of a Telangana state, the region will erupt in protests.

"If the report is against Telangana, then the entire region will turn into a ball of fire on January 6 evening because people want nothing less than a separate state," Reddy said.

He added TDP leaders from the region are ready to make any sacrifice to achieve a Telangana state and denied reports in a section of the media that he had resigned as convenor of the TDP Telangana Forum. The party's legislators said the TDP would become a national party after the formation of a Telangana state.

The five-member Srikrishna Committee headed by former Supreme Court Justice B.N. Srikrishna submitted its report to the central government on Thursday. The report will be made public on January 6 after union Home Minister P. Chidambaram's meeting with political leaders.

The committee was constituted by the central government in February last year after a series of agitations for and against a separate Telangana state rocked Andhra Pradesh.

Groups fighting for Telangana and leaders of the Congress and the TDP from the region have urged the central government to stick to its December 9, 2009, statement to initiate the process for Telangana's formation.

 
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