BRS leaders against merger of Maharashtra border villages with Telangana

Adilabad: In a surprising, but significant, development, BRS leaders are opposed to the merger of bordering villages of Maharashtra into Telangana state. They fear supporting such demands may boomerang and adversely impact BRS plans to expand to other states.

Many top BRS leaders opine that such demands for the merger of bordering villages into Telangana were only aimed at taking advantage of the welfare schemes in the state and reap the benefits thereof.

It may be recalled that some leaders from Dharmabad in Maharashtra had met minister Allola Indrakaran Reddy and local MLA Vittal Reddy at Basar three months back requesting them to merge bordering villages into Telangana.

A senior BRS leader of Adilabad, who recently campaigned for the BRS in the bordering village of Kinwat, said that yielding to such a demand will affect the Maharashtra expansion plans of BRS. They point out that many people from other areas in Maharashtra will oppose the proposal and may subsequently create problems for BRS.

The leaders said that BRS leadership should convince Maharashtra people that all the welfare schemes that are being implemented in Telangana will be replicated if they vote BRS to power in their state.

BRS leaders from Telangana said that leaders from the Maharashtra unit of BJP have been talking against the merger of bordering villages into Telangana and galvanising the local people against BRS.

A top BRS leader said that the merger of bordering villages of Maharashtra into Telangana is not possible now. Such a sentiment has prevailed in bordering villages Maharashtra and Karnataka as they were once part of Hyderabad state.