Hyderabad, Dec 15 : Telugu Desam Party President N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday accused the ruling Congress of using the Telangana statehood issue for political gains, and said he was not against statehood to the region in Andhra Pradesh.
“The Congress, which is in power both in the state and at the Centre, has to take a decision on the Telangana statehood demand. But it is simply dodging the issue to seek political gains,” he said, addressing a public meeting at tribal-dominated Utnoor in Adilabad district.
Naidu today toured Utnoor and surrounding villages as part of his ‘Rythu Poru Baata', a programme aimed at studying the problems being faced by farmers because of the prevailing drought in the state.
Though the Telangana protagonists threatened to block his tour, it went off smoothly barring a minor incident wherein one miscreant hurled an egg at one of Naidu's convoy vehicles. At Yenda village, police dispersed an unruly group of Telangana supporters.
The Leader of Opposition asserted that he was never against Telangana. “I have always been clear on the issue... the TDP is not against Telangana. However, it is for the Congress to take a decision on the statehood issue since it is the party in power. But it has failed to act so far.” The recent no-confidence motion in the Assembly (which was defeated) was a “slap on the face” of Kiran Kumar Reddy Government, the former Chief Minister maintained.
“This Government is anti-farmer and has done nothing for the welfare of farmers. It washed its hands off after merely declaring drought in 876 mandals (tehsils) and took no further steps to rescue the distressed farmers.”
