Hyderabad, Oct 20 (IANS): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani Wednesday said if Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi take a decision, carving out a separate Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh could become a reality by the New Year.
Addressing a public meeting here as part of his 'Jana Chetna Yatra', he said if the UPA government brought a bill in the winter session of parliament for the creation of Telangana state, the BJP would support it.
If the prime minister and Gandhi decide to create the Telangana state, the BJP, which has 116 members in the Lok Sabha and 50 in the Rajya Sabha, will support them. "Then there is no reason why Telangana state can't be a reality on Jan 1, 2012," he said.
He said there was no need for a resolution to be passed by the Andhra Pradesh assembly for carving out a separate Telangana state.
Under Article 3 of the constitution, a new state can be formed with a simple majority in parliament (supporting the bill), he said.
Blaming the Congress-led UPA government for uncertainty over the Telangana issue, the former deputy prime minister said the demand for Telangana state was "justified".
The BJP leader criticised the UPA government for going back on its promise on Telangana state.
"Within 15 days of promising that they would be forming the state of Telangana, they went back upon the promise, with the result that this region today is in a condition that has not been witnessed in any other state for 60 years," he earlier told reporters at Nizamabad.
While assuring the people of the region that the BJP would stand by them, he recalled that three new states were created during the party's rule in central government.
"I have never known a strike of this magnitude and I have not seen in my life young men committing suicide because of the non-fulfilment of a political promise," said Advani while commenting on the ongoing "people's strike" and suicides by youth and students in the region.
Advani, whose yatra entered Telangana from Maharashtra Tuesday evening, addressed road shows in Nizamabad, Medak and Ranga Reddy districts before reaching Hyderabad. After a night halt in Hyderabad, he would be leaving for Arunachal Pradesh.
Advani told the public meeting in Hyderabad that though it was his sixth yatra in 21 years, no other yatra received such a huge public response.
Advani, who started his yatra Oct 11, will cover 23 states and four union territories in 40 days before the winter session of parliament, usually held November-December.
"Only nine days have passed but I had never seen such huge response before," he said and attributed this to the strong sense of patriotism among people.
Advani urged people not to tolerate corruption and fight to bring back Rs.25 lakh crore of black money stashed in foreign banks to rebuild a new India.
"This entire money should be invested in villages so that none of the six lakh villages in India remain without drinking water, schools, hospitals and other basic amenities," he said.
The BJP leader said not a single day was passing without a scandal coming to light. He lamented that this was affecting the image of India which, he said, had the potential to become a super power in the 21st century.
He criticised the UPA government for being a spectator to the corruption scandals. "The government has not punished a single person involved in scandal. It is either the Supreme Court, the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) or some other institution which exposed corruption," he said.