YS Jaganmohan Reddy: Give me 30 LS seats, I’ll keep state united

• It will help us make such a person as PM who will keep the state united
• Urges Jaya, Karunanidhi, Naveen, Mamata, PC to ensure defeat of T Bill
• How will Sonia feel, if a law is enacted asking foreign-born citizens to leave?

YSRCP president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Saturday utilised the first meeting organised by any political party to oppose the division of the state to position himself as the saviour of Andhra Pradesh and tried to counter the allegations from TDP and others that he had entered into a tacit understanding with the Congress party.

Addressing a massive crowd at Lal Bahadur Stadium which turned up despite incessant rains across the state, Jagan raised the pitch for Samaikyandhra Pradesh and called upon the people to give 30 Lok Sabha seats to his party in General Elections so that the division of the state could be stopped.

"Let us win 30 Lok Sabha seats. We will then see who will and who can divide Andhra Pradesh. If we win 30 seats, we can make someone who will keep AP united as the Prime Minister. We could dictate terms in the national politics after the polls," he thundered. While making an appeal for the decisive mandate for his party, Jagan tried to strike an emotional chord, saying "This is a fight between Delhi's arrogance and Telugus' self-respect". In a strategic move to garner the support of other states to defeat the T Bill in parliament, Jagan warned states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, West Bengal, Punjab and Odisha that if they remain as mute spectators, they too would have to meet the same fate one day or other. He said, "I urge Karunanidhi ji, Jayalalithaa ji and Chidambarm garu and Mamata ji in Bengal as well as Naveen Patnaik ji in Odisha to wake up now and oppose the Congress' game plan to divide AP.”

Jagan made an all-out attack on Sonia Gandhi, accusing the AICC president of playing with the lives of Telugu people and murdering democracy in broad daylight, Kadapa MP in his 60 minute speech said "Sonia had got married to Rajiv Gandhi in 1968.

What he said...

• There is no deal whatsoever between YSRCP and Congress party

• Sonia breaking up Andhra Pradesh only to make Rahul Gandhi PM

• As Sonia longs to get PM job for Rahul, so do Seemandhra mothers long for jobs to children in Hyderabad

• No human being will turn a blind eye to the 80-day-long agitation

• This is a fight between Delhi's arrogance and Telugus' self-respect

• Vote for such person who will keep Andhra Pradesh united

After that she got Indian citizenship in 1983. How will Sonia feel if parliament made a law withdrawing Indian citizenship of foreign-born people and asking them to return to their motherland after 30 long years? And how violently Congress leaders will react to it? We are also feeling the same pain now for being asked to leave Hyderabad after staying here for 60 years," he said. “Do you know the history of Andhra Pradesh? You are playing with the future of our children only to make your son the Prime Minister. Is it justified?" he questioned the Congress president. Jagan even went to the extent of questioning if Sonia was a ‘human being’ for turning a blind eye to the 80-day-long agitation of all sections in Seemandhra for a united state.

The YSRCP president also launched a strident attack against TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu and Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and said they were deceiving the people of the state. Interestingly, he did not mention the name of TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao who had spearheaded the movement for separate Telangana during his speech. In his first public appearance after his release from jail, Jagan focused on aiming at electoral gains.

Sharmila, who had been playing an active role in the absence of Jagan to keep the rank and file intact, was conspicuous by her absence.