New Delhi, Oct. 26: The Telangana movement has inspired a group which wants to carve out a separate State in Tamil Nadu. The movement, which calls itself the Vada Tamil Nadu Makkal Iyakkam, and is led by N A Iraivan, has written a letter to Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K Chandra-sekhar Rao requesting him to release their official publication in Chennai.

In a letter to KCR, Iraivan said that the magazine Achamillai was being published from 1998 to gain support for the formation of North Tamil Nadu as a separate State to gain more benefits for the “sons of the soil”. Iraivan and his group want the separate State to comprise Salem, Dharampuri, Krishnagiri, Kancheepuram, Thiruvannamalai, Chennai, Perambular, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Thiruvayur and Nagapatnam. The people in these areas were very poor as they had been neglected by successive governments, Ira-ivan said. The group claimed to have drawn inspiration from the movement for a separate Telangana.

Sources close to KCR said that he was likely to accept the invitation. Meanwhile, the TRS chief’s ultimatum to the Central and State governments over the formation of Telangana has caused unease in the Congress. Significantly, even after six months, KCR continues to be a minister without portfolio in the Union Cabinet. He is not too worried about this, and plans to use his time to inspire other movements for smaller States.

..DC