Hyderabad June 03: The remarks of the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti chief and Union minister for labour K Chandrashekhar Rao against Potti Sriramulu, the architect of the Telugu linguistic state, has sparked a major storm in the city.

While the people of Arya Vysya community, to which Potti Sriramulu belonged and other supporters of integrated Andhra Pradesh came out on the streets to protest and burnt the effigies of Rao, a senior Congress leader also lashed out at him and asked him to mind his language

Chandrashekhar Rao had allegedly described the formation of integrated Andhra Pradesh by bringing together the Telangana and Andhra states in 1956 as a "conspiracy" and had charged Potti Sriramulu with being a part of the conspiracy.
It has irked the pro-united Andhra Pradesh people, who performed the Abhishekam by bathing Potti Sriramulu's statue in Hyderabad and elsewhere in the state with milk. At Kurnool, Nellore and other places, angry protestors burnt effigies of Chandrashekhar Rao
State finance minister K. Roshaiah expressed his dismay and anger over the remarks of Chandrashekar Rao and said the language he used against Potti Sriramulu was not dignified.
He also charged him with distorting history and reminded him that Andhra Pradesh, comprising Telangana and Andhra were formed because of the efforts of the leaders of both the regions. "There was no conspiracy involved in it," Roshaiah said.
Chandrashekhara Rao defending his demand for separate Telangana state had also said that he was following in the footsteps of Potti Sriramulu to demand a separate state because he had also got the Telugu speaking areas separated from the then Madras state. He also reportedly objected to the description of Potti Sriramulu as a "patriot"
Potti Sriramulu is a venerated figure in coastal Andhra as he had sacrificed his life while sitting on a fast- unto-death while demanding separation of Telugu speaking areas from the composite Andhra state. He had gone on a fast-unto-death on October 19, 1952 and died 55 days later.

Roshaiah reminded Chandarshekhar that Potti Sriramulu's children had not occupied any political position for his struggle, while he (Chandrashekhar) had extracted political mileage from his movement for Telangana state and was occupying a ministerial position. Potti Sriramul's sacrifice was for uniting all the Telugu speaking areas and for the linguistic state for the Telugu-speaking people. "It is not good to politicise his invaluable sacrifice. It was unparalleled sacrifice in the history of the world," he said. Roshaiah said he had hoped that Chandrashekhar Rao will retract his statement but as he did not it forced him to react.
Criticising Rao for distorting history, Roshaiah said that Potti Sriramulu had raised the demand for a Telugu state for the first time in Warangal in 1950 and Kunrool had become the capital of Andhra state on October 1, 1953.

He said several Telangana leaders, including chief minister Borgula Ramakrishna Rao, Mir Ahmad Ali Khan, Makhdoom Mohiuddin had also supported an integrated Andhra Pradesh and had fought for it.