Telangana Bill: YSR Congress to meet Pranab, demand united AP

Hyderabad: Buoyed by Andhra Pradesh Assembly rejecting the Telangana Bill, YSR Congress Party today said it will take the battle to Delhi and meet President Pranab Mukherjee to reiterate the need for keeping the state united. “Very soon Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy (the party chief) will lead a delegation to Delhi and meet the President seeking his intervention in keeping the State united,” YSRCP Honorary President Y S Vijayamma told reporters here today. [caption id=“attachment_1367025” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Jagan Reddy. AFP.[/caption] “We will go to the polls in a united state and the party will get a decisive mandate as YSR Congress was the only one which had taken a firm stand to keep the state integrated while other parties were ambiguous and had deceived people through their words and deeds,” she said. “Jagan Mohan Reddy will lead the party to a thumping win in the next elections and bring back the golden era of YSR, who was always in favour of a united and strong state for easy delivery of development and welfare activities,” she added. YSRCP, however, respects the sentiments of Telangana as well and is in favour of all-round development of the region, a stand taken by ex-Chief Minister Y S R Reddy also, she said. Both Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu are equally responsible for things coming to such a pass, said Vijayamma, who is also an MLA. “While Kiran Reddy had been all the time boasting of turning the tide (against division), he did cooperate with the (Congress) high command in allowing the Bill to be tabled and had sent all the required data to the Centre without a semblance of fight,” Vijayamma alleged. “Naidu, on the other hand, had been practising double standards and encouraging his party members from both regions (Telangana and Seemandhra) to speak out while himself maintaining a stoic silence,” she said. Earlier in the day, the Assembly rejected the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Bill, which envisages creation of a Telangana state, by a voice vote. PTI