Revanth Reddy Should Ask Naidu For Merger Of Seven Mandals: BRS

Former minister and Siddipet MLA Harish Rao today responded on the upcoming meeting the Chief Ministers of the two Telugu-speaking States.

Speaking to media persons at Telangana Bhavan in the city, he said that it was a good sign that AP CM Chandrababu Naidu had written a letter to CM Revanth Reddy to discuss the pending issues of the bifurcation of the State.

"I am happy that they want to resolve the issues through discussions. In the early days of the formation of Telangana State, seven mandals in Khammam district and the Lower Seeleru Power Project were unjustly merged into AP. The State of Telangana has suffered a lot due to this. KCR reacted sharply to the issue a few hours before taking charge as CM. We had called for a Telangana bandh. We also tried to block the merger by protesting in Parliament. But the BJP introduced the bill nevertheless," Rao said. He also alleged that the Congress had supported the bill then.

He said that the NDA government was now dependent on Chandrababu Naidu. "Therefore, we urge Revanth Reddy to put pressure on Chandrababu Naidu and work towards ensuring that the seven mandals and the Lower Seeleru Power Project come to Telangana. It is only after the merger of the seven mandals into Telangana that the other issues of bifurcation should be addressed. There is no objection from us if they build Polavaram. However, there is no place for the devotees coming to Bhadrachalam to park their vehicles. Even the dumpyard does not have enough place for the garbage collected in Bhadrachalam. The people of those seven mandals want to be with Telangana. The first agenda should be to give back the seven mandals to Telangana," Rao said.