Govt on backfoot over Telangana issue: BJP

Charging the centre with going on the backfoot over the Telangana issue, BJP on today said the government is shying away after making a commitment to grant statehood to the region.

Charging the centre with going on the backfoot over the Telangana issue, BJP on Saturday said the government is shying away after making a commitment to grant statehood to the region.

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"The government of the day (Manmohan Singh's government) is shying away after committing to give a Telangana state and is now on the backfoot over the issue," senior BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

Asking the centre to respond to the Telangana demand without delay, he said it is a reality which cannot be kept in abeyance for a long time and warned that Congress will suffer political losses due to "dilly-dallying" on the issue.

"The politics of the Congress is going to cost the party not only in Andhra Pradesh, but across the country," he said.

The BJP has already made its stand clear by supporting the formation of a separate Telangana.

The centre, meanwhile, continued to grapple with the situation arising out of the ongoing pro-Telangana agitation in Andhra Pradesh with hectic parleys among senior Congress ministers going on throughout the day.

Andhra Pradesh governor ESL Narasimhan on Saturday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and briefed him about the situation in the agitation-hit region.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy also held a meeting with senior ministers Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram to discuss the situation arising out of the Telangana statehood demand.

The meetings assume significance as the general strike in Telangana region entered the 27th day on Saturday amid indications that the agitation would be intensified in the coming days.