HYDERABAD: The Bahujan Samaj Party would support the demand for a separate Telangana state if a debate on it took place in Parliament, party president and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati declared here on Saturday.
Addressing her party’s cadre at a camp held near LB Nagar, she said that the BSP would make a Scheduled Caste leader as chief minister of Telangana if the party was voted to power. Giving reason for her belief that her party would come to power if the new state was formed, she said, “Feudal and upper caste people are very few in number while Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other backward classes are numerically strong in the Telangana region.”
Recalling BSP’s support to creation of Uttarakhand state out of Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati blamed the Congress and BJP governments for the delay in carving out a state of Telangana. “If Bahujans come to power at the Centre and in the state, the uncertainty will end and the issue will be settled at once.” Saying that the demand for Telangana had been pending for long, she said Dr BR Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram too favoured smaller states since bigger states were difficult to govern.
[Express News Service]