Name Telangana after Sonia Gandhi: Shankar Rao

After announcing that he would construct a temple for Sonia Gandhi, former Minister Dr P Shankar Rao on Saturday demanded that the Telangana State should be named after the Congress president.

Addressing a press conference at the Congress Legislature Party here, Dr Shankar Rao said that the Telangana State became a reality only due to the decision taken by Sonia Gandhi and therefore, as a thanksgiving gesture the 29th State of the country should be called as "Sonia Telangana". He said he would formal send the request to the Centre in this regard.

Dr Shankar Rao also predicted that Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy's political career would come to an end by this month-end. Stating that Kiran Kumar Reddy should have resigned from the post if he was really serious about united Andhra Pradesh, he said that the Chief Minister was busy making the Samadhi of Congress party in the State. He alleged that the Chief Minister had lost his mental balance and thus, he was making statements to halt the process of Telangana formation.

The former minister said that it was improper on the part of Chief Minister to speak about State's division in Rachabanda programme. He said that Kiran Kumar Reddy was speaking like a faction leader. He said while Sachin Tendulkar would be remembered as a shining star of the country, Kiran Kumar Reddy would be referred to as a blot on Andhra Pradesh in history.