Ponnalas poser to Seemandhra leaders

HYDERABAD: Minister P Lakshmaiah on Wednesday demanded the Seemandhra Congress leaders to explain why theywere opposing Telangana state only after an  announcement was made by the Centre on December 9, 2009, but did not raise any objections on earlier occasions.Lakshmaiah, in an open letter to Congress leaders from Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, posed 18 questions asking them to respond as to why they have not raised any objections against separate Telangana state in the past 10 years.He questioned why no objections were raised when all political parties included the Telangana issue in their election manifestos during 2009 elections and when the Congress Legislature Party passed a resolution in December 2009 authorising party high command on the formation of Telangana.Why did anybody not raise any objection when the Congress party entered into an electoral alliance in 2004 with the TRS with the ‘single point agenda’ of creating  a separate state, he asked. Lakshmaiah said Seemandhra leaders had ample opportunities to air their views in internal platforms of the party, the state Assembly and also the Parliament on several occasions. “But none of them came out with the demand for a United Andhra Pradesh,’’ he said.