By IANS,
Hyderabad : Minutes after the polling ended in Telangana Thursday evening, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy said that the settlers from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema in Telangana will become foreigners if a separate Telangana state is formed.
“If Maha Kootami (‘Grand Alliance’) wins this election and forms Telangana state, settlers from coastal and Rayalaseema regions in Hyderabad will become foreigners,” the chief minister told a public meeting at Nandyal in Kurnool district of Rayalaseema region.
All 10 districts of Telangana and three districts of north coastal Andhra went to Lok Sabha and assembly polls in the first phase Thursday while the polling in the rest of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema will be held on April 23.
YSR, as the chief minister is popularly known, made the remarks on Telangana while campaigning for the second phase.
The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), which is fighting for separate statehood to Telangana region, and is part of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-led Grand Alliance, reacted sharply and said it would complaint to the Election Commission against the chief minister for inciting people of one region against the other.
“If he (YSR) has the courage, he should have made this statement before the first phase of polls. This shows his timidity and double standards,” said TRS leader Harish Rao.
The four-party Grand Alliance has promised that if voted to power it would initiate steps for the formation of a separate Telangana state.
The ruling Congress party, during the campaign in Telangana, had said that it had no reservations on the formation of separate Telangana state.