Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari will flag off the 22-day Telangana Poru Yatra, on the banks of river Krishna at Matkal in Mahabubnagar district, on 19 January.
Following a "Meet The Press" event by the Telangana Electronic Media Journalists Association at Fateh Maidan Club, BJP State president G Kishan Reddy said that the Poru Yatra was aimed at creating awareness about the importance of the formation of a separate state of Telangana.
In addittion, he refuted allegations that the BJP was launching the yatra merely to gain mileage on the statehood issue.
He added that the development of Telangana is only possible with the establishment of a separate Telangana state.
He also said out that the yatra is not against the wishes and sentiments of any other region in the state.
The BJP president said that the yatra will mount pressure on the Centre to introduce a bill to address the Telangana issue, in the Parliament's March Budget session.
In the case that the Congress fails to introduce a Telangana bill in the Parliament prior to 2014, he said that the BJP will go to polls with the Telangana state issue incorparated into the party manifesto.
Kishan Reddy said that the yatra will also tackle drinking and irrigation water problems in affected parts of Telangana.
He said that national-level leaders are expected to participate in the concluding meet of the yatra in the Nizamabad district.
The 3,500-km-long Poru Yatra will touch 88 Assembly constituencies, comprising 986 villages across the Telangana region, and end on the banks of the Godavari at Bhadrachalam in Khammam district, on 9 February. (INN)