“Telangana is the Jagir of its four crore people”, KTR tells Pawan Kalyan

Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan’s comment that Telangana was ‘no one’s jagir’ came in for strong criticism from Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K.T. Rama Rao, who asserted that Telangana was indeed the ‘jagir of four crore Telangana people.’

“Mr. Pawan Kalyan cannot dictate terms to Telangana, and his provocative behaviour on Telangana State Formation Day will be seen as an effort to undermine the sacrifices made for Statehood,” Mr Rama Rao said while speaking at meet-the-press programme at Press Club, Somajiguda on Wednesday. “No one stopped Mr. Pawan Kalyan from contesting and he has already done it twice here. But still he is yet to digest Telangana’s identity itself,” Mr. Rama Rao charged.

“No one needs to teach us the National Anthem or nationalism. This is the land that fought against the Nizam’s rule,” he said in response to Mr. Pawan Kalyan’s comments that suggested that Telangana lacked patriotism. “No one has to certify our deep respect for the nation and a strong patriotic spirit,” he said.

Responding to Mr. Pawan Kalyan’s comments on regionalism, Mr. Rama Rao questioned why only the Telangana movement was being portrayed negatively while similar movements elsewhere were celebrated. “If regionalism is dangerous, was Potti Sriramulu’s 58-day fast demanding a separate Andhra State also regionalism? Was that wrong?” he asked.

“If the Prime Minister acts only in the interest of Gujarat and shifts industries there, is that not regionalism? Why is Telangana’s aspiration questioned while economic regionalism is justified?” he asked.