"BJP has been forcefully supporting separate Telangana cause for long. We raised the issue in Parliament too. But Chandrasekhar Rao chose to attack BJP instead of Congress which is not giving Telangana. Why he is mum on Sonia Gandhi," Dattatreya told reporters here.
"Chandrasekhar Rao says we (BJP) are like a new beggar. You (TRS) are an old beggar. What did you achieve in the 11 years of existence of your party," he asked.
The former union minister was responding to the indirect attack on BJP by Chandrasekhar Rao at the TRS foundation day convention last week.
Referring to BJP's campaign that separate state is possible only with the help of a national party, Rao wondered whether any national party existed at all now.
"The so-called national parties came to power only if a coalition of regional parties helped them," he had said.
TRS and BJP have been members of the Telangana Political Joint Action Committee (TPJAC), but the ties between them have strained when they crossed swords in the recent Mahabubnagar assembly bypoll. BJP's victory was seen as a setback to TRS. PTI SJR NSK
