Telangana statehood demand splits opposition party down the middle

Hyderabad: Serious differences among senior leaders over the issue of separate statehood to the Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh state has rocked the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

Defying party president N. Chandrababu Naidu's directive to all the leaders not to air their views publicly on the politically sensitive issue, another senior leader and former minister C. Muthyam Reddy yesterday openly supported the demand for the separate state.

Muthyam Reddy has joined leaders like politburo member T. Devender Goud and party vice president G. Sukhender Reddy who publicly aired their views in support of separate Telangana. A few days before the meeting of a core committee on the Telangana issue, the party is divided between those supporting the separate Telangana and those opposing it.

The open rift has come as a jolt to TDP at a time when the party was gearing up for next year's elections and Naidu is busy on a state-wide march. The turmoil hit the party when it was celebrating the victory in the recent by-elections.

Regaining the lost ground in Telangana region, the party wrested one Lok Sabha and four assembly seats from the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in the May 29 by-polls. The defeat of TRS in the by-elections had been seen as big setback to the Telangana movement.