Ponnam to CBN: Control Leaders

Telangana Transport and Backward Classes Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar has written an open letter to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, stating that controversial statements being made by leaders of his Telugu Desam Party and alliance partners, the BJP and Jana Sena, about the formation of Telangana are igniting animosity among Telugu people.

The minister urged Naidu, also the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President, to rein in leaders of his party and his partners in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Prabhakar cited the remarks made recently by BJP MP Tejasvi Surya and the earlier comments by Deputy Chief Minister and Jana Sena leader Pawan Kalyan and claimed that the remarks made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi were the root cause.

The Congress leader wrote that making controversial statements regarding the state bifurcation, passing inappropriate remarks, or unnecessarily fanning the flames of hatred serves no one's interests.

“The comments currently being made -- by leaders of your alliance partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party, on one side; by the chief of Jana Sena on the other; and occasionally by leaders within your own party -- are neither appropriate nor fitting. The irrelevant remarks being made -- suggesting that the state bifurcation was somehow improper or that the formation of Telangana was unjustified -- are serving only to ignite unnecessary discord, animosity, and hatred among the Telugu people. They are fostering misconceptions where none existed before," his letter read.

"This is deeply unsettling. Such a situation benefits no one. As the leader of the coalition currently governing Andhra Pradesh, I urge you to take the initiative and speak to the leaders of your alliance partners—the BJP and Jana Sena," he added.

Prabhakar termed as "venomous" the comments made by BJP MP Tejasvi Surya on the floor of Parliament, likening the separation of Andhra and Telangana to the partition of India and Pakistan.

He wrote that the recent remarks by Pawan Kalyan that Telangana has cast an "evil eye" upon Andhra's progress have deeply hurt the sentiments of the people of Telangana.

"These statements serve only to sow seeds of discord among the Telugu people! Please impress upon your cabinet colleague that making such statements is inappropriate. I believe the root cause of all this lies in the inappropriate remarks made by senior BJP leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On one occasion, he inappropriately remarked that 'the mother and child were separated' through the state bifurcation; on another, he claimed that 'the mother was killed in order to save the child'."

“Perhaps Prime Minister Modi is unaware that it was the BJP itself -- back in 1997 -- that passed a resolution advocating "One Vote, Two States"! Since you are his senior in politics, I request you -- as an alliance partner -- to speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding this matter," the Telangana minister added.