Telangana statehood issue has come to the fore once again in the December elections with rival parties making strong claims of having played key roles in state formation. Congress leaders are campaigning hard to spread the message that Sonia Gandhi was the leader who helped in formation of separate Telangana. Congress is now playing this card in the hope of rekindling Telangana sentiment and grab the attention of voters.
In 2014 elections, though the then Congress government at the Centre formed separate state, that party leaders in Telangana could not take advantage out of the sentiment. On the other hand, TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao and his followers claimed the credit by taking up an information campaign that the statehood was achieved after a prolonged struggle and sacrifices made by students and leaders.
The scene is changing now in 2018 early polls as the Congress is bringing back this sentiment while TRS is hoping to retain power by taking advantage of loopholes within in the opposition ranks. Congress leaders are confident that if Telangana sentiment is roused in the present election, it would be beneficial only to their party and TRS would be pushed into a certain disadvantage. It is well known that TRS has already benefited from this sentiment in 2014 and the people will no longer vote for TRS on this plank.
Against this backdrop, TRS Minister K. Taraka Rama Rao (KTR) has hit back at Congress, saying that the credit for separate statehood would only go to all those Telangana people who waged long and hard agitations for the cause. He mocked at the Congress leaders for trying to insult all those martyrs who laid down their lives in the fight for separate state. As election day draws near, the race for credit-taking among parties has reached a high.
