Talk of merger of two Telugu states lands Telangana Congress in trouble

Hyderabad: Seven years after the bifurcation of the combined Andhra Pradesh to carve out Telangana state, the talk of reunion of the two Telugu states has once again surfaced, kicking up a debate in the political circles.
On Sunday, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) working president and Sangareddy MLA T Jayaprakash Reddy alias Jagga Reddy called for a merger of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, pushing his party into an embarrassing situation.
Known for his straightforward and aggressive talk, Jagga Reddy said he strongly favoured a united Andhra Pradesh. “Not just now, I said it even during the peak of the Telangana agitation. Though I was called a traitor of Telangana, I stood by my word. Yet, I was elected as an MLA,” he said.
Jagga Reddy was referring to a recent comment made by Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and the counter-reaction from Andhra Pradesh state information and public relations minister Perni Venkatramaiah alias Nani.
Speaking at the plenary of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi last week, KCR claimed that he had been getting calls from various sections of people in Andhra Pradesh, requesting him to launch the TRS in their state.
“Andhra Pradesh has been lagging behind Telangana in welfare and development; it is suffering from power crisis whereas we are power surplus. There is absolutely no comparison between Telangana and Andhra. In fact, there are requests from their people for launching TRS in Andhra Pradesh,” he said.