South Indian film actress Vijayashanti said she has quit the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday evening to espouse the cause of separate Telangana state. She announced that she would launch a people-oriented movement in this regard.
Addressing a convention of her supporters in Hyderabad, Vijayashanti, who was vice-president of the BJP's women's wing and national executive member, said she had decided to leave the BJP so that she could launch a movement for statehood for the backward region.
"I will fight till my last breath for the sake of 3.5 crore people of Telangana. I am ready to make any sacrifice for them," she said, claiming all political parties had contributed to the neglect and backwardness of this region and failed to do justice to the people.
Referring to the movement being waged by Telangana Rashtra Samithi, she asked the pro-Telangana party to come out of the United Progressive Alliance and join forces with other Telangana protagonists to launch a formidable struggle for Telangana state.
"Telangana has been neglected and subjected to untold injustice for the last 50 years by successive ruling parties. But the maximum injustice was done to this region during the nine-year rule of Telugu Desam Party under N Chandrababu Naidu," she said and dubbed the TDP as Telangana Droham Party (Anti-Telangana Party).