'Don't commit suicide for Telangana statehood'

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj on Sunday made an emotional appeal to the people of Telangana, particularly the youth, asking them not to commit suicide to press for statehood saying she would withdraw herself from the movement if they took the extreme step.

"I plead with people of Telangana particularly the youth my brothers and sisters of Telangana. Don't die for the creation of Telangana. Live to see the day when Telangana is created. Now onwards if there is a single suicide for creation of Telangana, I will withdraw myself Telangana movement. I beg of you please do not damage the Telangana cause by committing suicides," Swaraj said on the microblogging community site twitter on Sunday.

The BJP leader had raised the issue in a big way in the Lok Sabha two days back. Swaraj, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had moved a calling Attention Motion in the House on Friday that saw a heated debate over the issue.

The debate saw charges and countercharges between the Congress members from Telangana and those from rest of Andhra Pradesh and it was a tough time for the government managers to control them.

Participating in the debate, Swaraj had charged that people were led into believing United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi when she promised at an election meeting in Karimnagar in 2004 that if voted to power, Congress would grant statehood to Telangana.

She had also alleged that the "injustice" done by Justice Srikrishna will not be forgotten ever in the history of Telangana and had termed the Srikrishna Commission report on the matter as an "All India Congress Commmitee report".