Bhubaneswar: Seeking the support of BJD for the formation of a separate state by dividing Andhra Pradesh, a delegation of Telangana leaders on Saturday cautioned Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to be 'careful' with YSR Congress leader Jagan Mohan Reddy.
"Please be careful with him and do not give support to a corrupt person," Rajya Sabha MP V Hanumantha Rao said in a memorandum to Patnaik.
"As per 2004 election declaration, Jagan's assets were Rs 9.2 lakh, but by 2011, it reached Rs 365 crore. You can imagine that within 7 years, how this huge jump can happen."
Stating that Telengana was a long standing demand, he said "YSR took 37 MLAs to Sonia Gandhi to give a representation demanding a separate state of Telangana. TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu also supported the formation of a Telangana state."
"But now, everybody has taken a U-turn to seek sympathy in Seemandhra and are blaming the Congress for the division with selfish motives," Rao said.
Rao led a five-member delegation of Telangana leaders which met Odisha's Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kalpataru Das here in the absence of the chief minister in the state capital.
The delegation claimed that Telengana should not be compared with other states because it was not part of Andhra Pradesh previously.
"They came here and joined us in 1956 on the basis of one state for Telugu-speaking people," they said.
"Division of state is a sensitive, political, social and emotional issue. In case of Andhra Pradesh, people of the state should have been consulted and a consensus developed before any decision," Das said after the delegation met him.
The Telangana leaders were here six days after Jagan Mohan Reddy sought Patnaik's support against division of Andhra Pradesh.
