Andhra Pradesh's Irrigation Minister T G Venkatesh on Sunday vehemently opposed the creation of separate state of Telangana.
Speaking to the mediapersons here, he said that certain vested interests belonging to various outfits had conveyed a wrong message to the High Command of the ruling Congress party.
"Public also voted the Telugu Desam party (TDP), YSR party and o a small extent Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TSR) also. So it would be looking like that public also indirectly accepted because these parties have agreed to give the Telangana. So a wrong message will go to the High Command (of Congress party)," said T G Venkatesh.
Further he said the division of Andhra Pradesh would adversely affect the interests of the people in Rayalaseema, which is also a drought-prone region.
He also noted that in the interest of unified Andhra Pradesh, he would sacrifice anything.
"We have said any sacrifice for the sake of united Andhra we are ready. We want to be in the party and our demands will continue," he added.
The Telangana Movement was organized to support the creation of a new state from the existing state of Andhra Pradesh. The long-standing demand of the people behind the movement has been that a separate state was the only solution to ending the neglect and exploitation in the region.
The demand for the separate state has witnessed violent protests and political power play, with hundreds of lives lost between 1969 and 1972.
Congress MPs from Telangana have so far accused the Centre of following what they call a 'one-step-forward-two-backward' approach when it comes to addressing their demand for a separate state.
The Centre's flip-flop over the issue began in December 2009 when the then Home Minister P. Chidambaram promised the formation of a new state only to go back on it after a few days.
The issue was later pushed before a committee headed by Justice B.N. Srikrishna. This panel did not come up with a tangible solution, but instead presented six options.
These included the creation of a Telangana Regional Council within Andhra, bifurcation of the state into Telangana with Hyderabad as the capital and Seemandhra with a new capital; bifurcation of the state into Seemandhra and Telangana after making Hyderabad a Union Territory; bifurcation of the state into Seemandhra and Telangana with enlarged Hyderabad metropolis as a Union Territory; bifurcation of the state into Rayala Telangana and Coastal Andhra; and maintenance of status quo.
