“Telangana is the Jagir of its four million people,” KTR tells Pawan Kalyan

BRS Working President KT Rama Rao was addressing the press at a press meet program at the Press Club, Somajiguda in Hyderabad on Wednesday. The Hindu Telangana Political Editor Ravikanth Reddy, Press Club General Secretary Ramesh Varikuppala and Press Club President Vijaykumar Reddy are also seen alongside. | Photo credit: SIDDHANT THAKUR

Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan’s comment that Telangana was ‘nobody’s jagir’ drew strong criticism from Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao, who claimed that Telangana was really ‘the jagir of four million Telangana people.’

“Mr. Pawan Kalyan cannot dictate the terms of Telangana and his provocative behavior on the Telangana State Formation Day will be seen as an attempt to undermine the sacrifices made for statehood,” Mr. Rama Rao said during a meeting with reporters at the Press Club in Somajiguda on Wednesday. “No one has stopped Mr. Pawan Kalyan in the contest and he has done it twice here. But he still has to digest Telangana’s very identity,” charged Mr. Rama Rao.

“No one needs to teach us the national anthem or nationalism. This is a country that fought against the Nizam rule,” he said in response to Mr Pawan Kalyan’s remarks suggesting that Telangana lacked patriotism. “No one needs to confirm our deep respect for the nation and strong patriotic spirit,” he said.

Responding to Mr. Pawan Kalyan’s comments on regionalism, Mr. Rama Rao asked why only the Telangana movement was portrayed negatively, while elsewhere similar movements were celebrated. “If regionalism is dangerous, did Potti Sriramulu’s 58-day fast for a separate Andhra state also demand regionalism? Was it wrong?” he asked.

“If the Prime Minister is acting only in the interest of Gujarat and is shifting industries there, is it not regionalism? Why is Telangana’s aspiration being questioned while economic regionalism is justified?” he asked.

Published – 03 Jun 2026 20:35 IST