Congress demands PM's apology for 'insulting Telangana'

Hyderabad, Sep (IANS) The Congress on Tuesday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi must apologise for "insulting" Telangana once again.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi posted in Telugu on ‘X’ that Modi’s comments mocking the martyrs of Telangana and their sacrifices are an insult to Telangana's existence and self-respect.

He posted his reaction with the hashtag PM should apologise to Telangana.

After Rahul Gandhi, the party's Telangana unit too demanded an apology from Modi.

"The manner in which PM Narendra Modi has been insulting Telangana state creation for the last ten years is clearly evident once again in his latest comments about the state formation in front of the entire country, yesterday in the Parliament," it said.

It said that then party chief Sonia Gandhi by putting aside political interests "and by considering the children of Telangana as her own children", overcame all hurdles to create the state. It said even after a decade, Modi’s dislike for Telangana continues to grow.

The party alleged that Telagana CM KCR also continued to insult martyrs and the fighters.

State Congress president Revanth Reddy stated that Modi’s comments belittling the sacrifices of Telangana and spirit of struggle are unacceptable. He said as a leader of the party which formed Telangana, Rahul Gandhi knows the heartbeat of Telangana and hence, he gave a strong counter to Modi’s remarks.

Speaking in the Parliament on Monday, the Prime Minister had claimed that bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh to create Telangana had led to bitterness and bloodshed. Referring to Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, and Chhattisgarh which were carved out of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, respectively, during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime in the most planned manner, he alleged that bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh was done in an unscientific manner.

"There were celebrations on both sides when those three states were formed but the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh led to only bitterness and bloodshed in both the states. There were no celebrations on either side," he had said.