TRS, BJP suffering from the same ‘communal’ disease: Sonia Gandhi

Chevella, Andhra Pradesh: In a frontal attack, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday said TRS played opportunistic politics over the formation of Telangana state, and had joined hands with communal forces in the past.

TRS leader, K Chandreshekar Rao used to claim earlier that Congress would never give Telangana state, but now he was claiming credit as the separate state had become a reality, she said, addressing a campaign rally on the penultimate day of electioneering in the region.

Telangana would go to the polls on April 30.

Alleging that TRS sided with "communal forces" in the past, Sonia maintained that there was no guarantee that it would not do so even now. "We are not seeing the opportunistic face of TRS for the first time. It is suffering from the same disease as the BJP," she said, attacking the individual-centric campaigns of both the parties.

"Future of Telangana would not be secure with such forces... That is why you have to make your decision on electing the first government in Telangana after a careful thought," she said.

She also accused TRS of speaking "the language of intimidation".

Her party put in a lot of efforts in persuading other parties to accept the separate Telangana, Sonia said. While TDP, YSRCP and BJP leaders changed their stands on separate state frequently, Sonia said Congress never compromised over aspirations of the Telangana people. She also stated that the period of agitation was over, and hoped that Telangana and Seemandhra people would have cordial relations now.

The Congress president promised that her party would seek national status for Pranahita-Chevella and Palamuru irrigation projects, push construction of a 4,000 MW power plant to address the issue of power shortage and reduction of the burden of farm loan, among other things.