Revanth Reddy Never Fought For Telangana: BRS

Former minister and BRS leader Harish Rao today said that the invocation of the term Telangana by the Chief Minister Revanth Reddy was akin to ghosts embarking upon a pilgrimage.

Speaking with the media in Sangareddy, he claimed that Reddy had not shouted "Jai Telangana" on a single day in his political history, and had not participated in the Telangana statehood movement.

He said that former CM K Chandrashekar Rao was the reason behind the creation of Telangana on December 9, 2009, by the then Congress-led Union government. "When the CM says that the State was formed due to the kindness of the Congress leaders, it is an insult to the Telangana movement and martyrs. The Congress is the number one villain of Telangana. If KCR had not formed the TRS in 2001, there was no way Telangana State would have been a reality. During 50 years of the Congress' rule and 16 years of the TDP's rule in united AP, the word had gotten completely erased from the minds of the people. The word Telangana was even banned in the Assembly at that time," Rao claimed.

He said that KCR, when he was a Union minister, had convinced the leaders of 32 political parties in Delhi and got them to issue letters in favour of Telangana. "From 2004 to 2009, the Congress betrayed us after allying with us by not giving us Telangana. If there was no November 29 (when KCR started a fast-unto-death), there would have been no announcement of the Telangana State formation on December 9 (when the Union government announced the process of forming a separate Telangana). And if there was no announcement of statehood for the Telangana region on December 9, there would have been no June 2 (Telangana Formation Day)," the BRS leader said.

Later, Rao tweeted congratulating famous writer Nandini Sidda Reddy for her standing up for the self-respect of the people of Telangana by rejecting the award of the State government.

He also said that the State government discontinuing the Bathukamma sarees was an insult to the self-respect of Telangana people.