We Want Separate Rayalaseema: TDP Member

Telugu Desam Party general secretary and founder of the Rayalaseema Parirakshana Samithi Byreddy Rajasekhar Reddy, on Saturday, said that the people of Rayalaseema were meted out major injustice, in a united Andhra Pradesh.

Talking to media persons while hoisting the flag of the Rayalaseema Parirakshana Samithi, at the Somajiguda Press Club, Byreddy Rajasekhar Reddy alleged that because of certain "selfish leaders", injustice has been done to the Rayalaseema region several times. He said that the shifting of the state capital from Kurnool was an example.

Stating that the people of Rayalaseema are against the division of the state in the first place, he added that people want a separate Rayalaseema state in case the state is indeed bifurcated.

"If the bifurcation of the state is imminent, the Centre should form 3 separate states - Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema and Telangana," he said, "People will not keep quiet if any part of Rayalaseema is merged with Telangana or Andhra," he said.

Byreddy said that he was ready to submit his resignation from the Telugu Desam party for the cause of a Rayalaseema State.

Responding to a question on the Telangana Forum members mounting pressure on Naidu seeking that he write another letter to the Centre about Telangana Byreddy said that Rayalaseema leaders would also ask Naidu to write a letter on their own separate state.

Byreddy's statement assumes importance in the wake of the Telugu Desam Telangana Forum mounting pressure on party chief N Chandrababu Naidu to write to the Centre for Telangana statehood - they demand that he tell the Centre that the TDP is not opposed to the formation of a separate state. (INN)