Chidambaram, a senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister, apologized for the lives lost during the Telangana statehood agitation on Thursday. Addressing the media in Hyderabad, the former Union Minister emphasized that creating or dividing a state was a serious matter, not a child's play, and was done as a response to the people's movement. In a sharp reaction, BRS leader and Minister KT Rama Rao asserted it was already too late.
Describing suicide as an 'unfortunate incident', Chidambaram said, "If in the people's movement, some persons lost their lives in the agitation... we are sorry for that. But you can't hold the (then) Central government responsible for that."
The statement came as Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao during the election campaign for Telangana polls charged that lives had been lost as a result of the previous UPA government's delay in forming Telangana.
Further, a Congress veteran said Telangana was formed as a response to the movement of the people.
In reaction, KT Rama Rao took to X and said, "Too late and Too little Chidambaram Ji. Your party is solely responsible for taking the lives of hundreds of Telangana youngsters from 1952 - 2014. No matter how hard you try now, people of Telangana will always remember the brutalities Congress perpetrated on us."
However, Chidambaram alleged that over 4,000 suicides were reported in Telangana under K Chandrasekhar Rao-led BRS government and sought to know who was responsible for it.