Separate Telangana State: Seemandhra Leaders' Reaction

The TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday had claimed that the central government was considering various proposals on Telangana, including merging Anantapur and Kurnool districts of Rayalaseema with Telangana to create a separate state. Reacting sharply to this, leaders from Rayalaseema said division of the region is unacceptable to them.

Minister Shailajanath told reporters that there was no question of agreeing to merger of two districts with Telangana and that they would take up the issue with the central government. Leaders of the TDP also rejected the idea and termed it as KCR's "figment of imagination". Former minister and Congress leader J.C. Diwakar Reddy, however, said if bifurcation of the state becomes inevitable, Rayalaseema and Telangana should be merged to form Rayala-Telangana state.