Kiran floats party for ‘Telugu pride’

mangaloretoday.com

Hyderabad, March 07: Former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who recently resigned over the creation of Telangana, on Thursday announced that he is launching a new political party on March 12. Reddy made his intentions clear at a public meeting at Rajahmundry and said that he wants to fight for the interest of Telugu-speaking people.

 

“We have not decided the name yet but we will launch a party on March 12. We want to uphold the pride and dignity of Telugu people,” he said at the meeting, flanked by former Congress MPs Lagadapti Rajagopal, G Harsha Kumar, Sabbam Hari and Sai Pratap.

Reddy, who quit from the Congress as well as CM post on February 19, a day after the AP Reorganisation Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha, said he was against the bifurcation and the manner in which the Congress handled the entire issue. “The way it was pushed through in Parliament against the wishes of the majority of Telugu-speaking people hurt me. My new party’s aim is to ensure the

Telugu people do not suffer due to the division of state,” he said.

He said the entire approach adopted by the Congress and BJP, who ensured that the Bill got passed, was undemocratic. “They have brought disgrace to Parliament and democratic processes,” Reddy said.

“Unfortunately the Congress and the BJP came together to pass the Bill and regional parties TDP and YSR CP were party to the whole process, failing to address the issue,” he said.

Reddy said the policies and manifesto of the new party would be announced on March 12.

Sources said the new party would be named along the sentiment of united Andhra Pradesh. In January, a political party called Samaikya Praja Vani was quietly registered in Hyderabad amid speculation that it is Reddy’s party. The party was registered by people known to be close to Kiran Reddy’s brother Santosh Reddy.