Hyderabad: Though the Bharatiya Janata Party’s state unit is for the creation of Telangana state, its Seemandhra leaders are fighting to safeguard their interests in the region and have decided to launch agitations opposing the terms of the bifurcation.
BJP national executive member and former MLA Kambhampati Haribabu said that Seemandhra leaders of the BJP are engaged in listing the likely injustices done to the region in the advent of bifurcation.
“We clearly told our party’s central leadership that we are not against division of the state, but we are very much against the autocratic way the Centre is proceeding with Telangana formation without addressing genuine issues. Our leadership has promised to take up the issues,” Haribabu said.
He told reporters in Delhi on Wednesday that if one goes by the details given in the Telangana Bill, great injustice will be done to the Seemandhra region.
He said that the Telangana Bill vaguely mentions the Polavaram project as only an irrigation project and not as a multipurpose project. He said Seemaandhra BJP leaders are objecting to certain provisions in the T Bill with regard to acquisition of submerged lands under the Polavaram dam.
He said that the Bill mentioned that the Telangana government will cooperate with Seemandhra government in implementing the project, but “if one goes by the massive opposition by almost all parties in Telangana, how is it possible for the Telangana government to cooperate?”
He said unless the Bhadrachalam revenue division, which has been in the Seemandhra region right from 1840-1959 in East Godavari district, is merged with Seemandhra state, justice cannot be done to the region.
He demanded that along with the Bhadrachalam revenue division, a few villages in Paloncha and other revenue divisions of Khammam district, that are likely to be submerged under the Polavaram dam, also need to be included in Seemandhra State.
He also expressed apprehensions that once the state is divided, the new Telangana government may demand a change in the design of the dam, which will not serve any purpose for Seemandhra.
“Since TRS leaders are asking for revival of Telangana state that was in existence prior to 1956, Bhadrachalam division, which was not there in Telangana, should be included in Seemandhra,” he said.
