New Delhi/Hyderabad:
As the Telangana issue simmers, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said that it supports the creation of a separate Telangana state.
"We delivered Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand when we were in power. So, it's our promise if we come to power, we will deliver the state of Telangana," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said while addressing a press conference today.
He also slammed the UPA government in Centre, particularly Home Minister P Chidambaram saying, "Why did Chidambaram declare in December 2009 that the process of creation of Telangana was on? Why was the Srikrishna Report ordered?" Mr Prasad said, adding, "Please don't play with the sentiments of the people."
The second day of the rail roko agitation and 13th day of the general strike called by pro-Telangana groups in Andhra Pradesh saw life coming to a complete standstill today.
The protesters were dancing, eating and sleeping on the railway tracks. Yet, they say, the government seems to prefer to turn a blind eye and behave as though all is well.
Mallesh works as a marketing manager with a pharmaceutical company in Hyderabad. He spent the weekend on the railway tracks because he believes the people of Telangana have been denied opportunity for growth and development and he sees participating in the pro-Telangana agitation as a chance to change that.
"You go to any clothes store, you will not find anyone from Telangana working there. Go to any pharma company, only the risky jobs come to those from Telangana," said Mallesh.
LLB student Balakrishna Reddy feels a few months of education lost is a small price to pay for the larger cause of rewriting the fate of the region. "Everyone should be involved in the agitation. Then it will be easy to have Telangana state."
Political parties like the TRS say it is because of this overriding sentiment of the people that there has been support for the general strike and rail roko agitation even though it is the locals who are being put to the maximum inconvenience.
"The situation is bad. Let the chief minister realise it and send correct reports instead of misleading the Centre on the impact," TRS leader KT Rama Rao said.
Pro-Telangana protesters are literally living on the tracks and life in the Telangana districts has gone off-track. The TRS has managed to capitalise on the sentiment whereas the Congress seems to have lost out politically and that is going to make it all the more difficult for the UPA government to take any decision on Telangana.