Stating that some harsh decisions would have to be taken, former Endowments minister Jupally Krishna Rao on Saturday said that a political crisis alone would jolt the Centre out of its slumber and force it to respond to the calls for a separate Telangana state.
Talking to media persons at Basheer Bagh Press Club, the former Endowments minister stated that unless leaders from Telangana do not take some harsh decisions and deliberately create a political crisis, the demand for the separate state would continue to be unheeded. “The Centre would not act if the Telangana leaders do not take harsh decisions on Telangana state formation,” Mr Krishna Rao said. Opining that a separate Telangana state is possible only through resignations of leaders from the region, the former minister asked told the separate statehood protagonists to reveal if they have any other alternative in mind to force the Centre’s hand on the issue. “If Telangana is not achieved now, the formation of the state would not be possible at any other time in the future,” Mr Krishna Rao said. He called upon all Telangana leaders to unite and make concerted efforts towards formation of the separate statehood by keeping aside their party agenda and flags. Mr Krishna Rao had earlier resigned from the Cabinet to support the separate statehood demand. So far, he has been the only Congress Minister who has put Telangana before his Ministerial post. “The leaders of all parties should launch a fight for the separate state, putting their party affiliations aside,” he said. The former minister added that the people of Telangana should mount pressure on the elected representatives to submit their resignations to achieve the separate state.