Gadkari flags off Telangana yatra

Hyderabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday launched 'Telangana Poru Yatra' with party president Nitin Gadkari promising a separate Telangana state if the party is voted to power at the Centre. Addressing a public meeting at Maktal in Mahabubnagar district to formally flag off state BJP chief Kishan Reddy's yatra, Gadkari assured the people that the party would strive for a bill in the coming session of parliament to carve out a separate state. 

Gadkari also promised that the BJP, if voted to power in the next elections, will utilise the water of Krishna river to make Telangana prosperous. He accused the Congress of betraying the people of Telangana. "The Congress has betrayed you after making an announcement to form a separate state. It is not interested in fulfilling the promise, though it is in power both at the centre and in the state," he said.

Kishan Reddy has embarked on a 3,500-km yatra to exert pressure on the central government to table a bill in parliament during the budget session for a separate Telangana state. The BJP state chief will address public meetings in various Telangana districts during the 22-day yatra, ending in Hyderabad on Feb 11. Several national leaders of the BJP and the chief ministers of Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh will address the public meetings during the course of the yatra. 

Kishan Reddy blamed both the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) for the delay in formation of a Telangana state. He said the people of the region would "bury" both the parties. 


Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) convenor M. Kodandaram said the JAC would expose the Congress and the TDP for betraying the cause of Telangana.

Former TDP leader N. Janardhana Reddy and Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS) president Manda Krishna Madiga also addressed the meeting.



"The aim of the yatra is to mount pressure on the UPA government to move a Bill in the coming budget session of the Parliament for carving out a separate statehood for Telangana," state party general secretary N Ramachander Rao said in Hyderabad on Monday.

Organised by party's state unit, the rally is being led by state chief G Kishan Reddy, who is also party's Floor Leader in the State Assembly. It will pass through 171 mandals, 986 villages, 36 municipalities in 88 assembly constituencies and will cover a distance of about 3,500 km in nine districts of Telangana region, Rao said. 

Meanwhile, several pro-Telangana organisations have extended their support to the yatra, Rao said, adding that prominent BJP leaders including Prakash Jawadekar  taook part in the event. 

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