Hyderabad: TRS Lok Sabha member from Karimnagar B. Vinod Kumar on Friday said that late Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee played a crucial role in reviving the hopes of statehood for Telangana in 2004. Addressing a press conference here, Mr Vinod said that the legendary statesman influenced the decision of the BJP to lend its support for the cause of a separate Telangana state when the then UPA government sought the opinion of various political parties on the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
Recalling his debut into the Lok Sabha in 2004, Mr Vinod said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, as the TRS president and the then Karimnagar MP, led a delegation of TRS MPs to meet Mr Vajpayee and sought his support for the bifurcation of AP and form Telangana state. “The Central government sought the opinions of all political parties and we were meeting leaders to convince them to support the cause. We met Mr Vajpayee and he patiently listened to our grievances despite his ailing health. As he could not speak much, he nodded his head in approval of our request and shortly afterwards, the BJP made an announcement supporting statehood for Telangana,” Mr Vinod said.
It was during Mr Vajpayee's tenure as the Prime Minister that the then BJP government formed three new states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarkhand. He also expressed his condolences to the family members of Mr Vajpayee on behalf of the TRS. He said Vajpayee was an irreplaceable leader in the history of Indian politics.
He said Vajpayee was one of the very few leaders who are admired by one and all, notwithstanding their political or ideological differences. “He walked the path of patriotism and his death is a great loss to the nation. Telangana will always be indebted and remain thankful to him for extending his support to the its statehood,” Mr Vinod said.
