Hyderabad, Sept 7: The demand for a separate state of Telangana is gaining momentum in Andhra Pradesh with senior Congress leaders from the backward region planning to hold a convention at Mahabubnagar on September 10 and party MLAs from Telangana proposing to go to New Delhi shortly to press the issue with the high command.Former Union Minister Dr Mallikarjun, who spearheaded the movement for a Telangana state in 1969, has convened a convention of senior party leaders from the backward region to discuss the long-pending demand of statehood for Telangana.``Our demand for separate statehood for backward Telanganai s very old and justified when viewed from various angles, especially in the context of continued poverty, regression and discrimination the region is suffering'', Mallikarjun, a former AP Congress committee chief, told PTI here.``Since the party high command had supported the creation of the new states of Uttaranchal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, we are hopeful of a similar response to our demand for a separate state of Telangana'', he said.A delegation of senior party leaders would go to Delhi after the convention and present a detailed memorandum to party president Sonia Gandhi, he added.Meanwhile, Congress legislature party secretary Dr G Chenna Reddy told reporters here that 41 party MLAs from the region would formally meet APCC president M Satyanaryana Rao and CLP leader Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and apprise them about their demand for a separate state before going to Delhi to meet Sonia in this regard.
