Hyderabad:
Kiran Kumar Reddy is now the president of Jai Samaikyandhra. The new political party in Andhra Pradesh which literally means 'hail united Andhra Pradesh' will contest seats in both Telangana and Seemandhra on the plank of uniting Telugu people.
"I have already got applications from Telangana to contest on my party ticket," Mr Reddy told NDTV. "There are at least 30-40 assembly seats here where integrationists have a definite say in who will win," he added.
Ticket for the general elections "are not for sale or advance booking," said Mr Reddy, who was the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh till last month. "The Election Commission must take note of the crores being demanded and paid to get tickets," Mr Reddy said.
Mr Reddy, a Congressman all his life so far, had resigned after Parliament cleared his party's proposal to carve out Telangana as a new southern state. "We need a party for Telugu people, that is why this party," he said. The formal party launch will be in Rajahmundry on Wednesday.
He held out the hope that the bifurcation of the state to carve out a separate state of Telangana can be reversed. He brought with him a piece of the historic Berlin Wall to illustrate that if a wall that divided east and west Germany could fall, Andhra Pradesh can be united too once again.
Mr Reddy, 53, hopes his rebellion against the Congress will win him points for loyalty to the cause of the people of Seemandhra, the regions which will form the residuary state after Telangana becomes India's 29th state on June 2. He has rejected an offer of partnership with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), calling it an "insult." Mr Reddy accuses the TDP of "letting down the Telugu people."
Mr Reddy and other leaders from the region had vehemently opposed the division, and urged the Congress leadership in Delhi to withdraw its plans. Mr Reddy has also challenged the bifurcation of his state in the Supreme Court.
The Congress sanctioned a decades-long movement for a Telangana state in the hope of being rewarded by voters in the region in the election.
Andhra Pradesh will vote undivided for the state election which will be held simultaneously with the national election. The Election Commission has said that whoever is elected legislator will automatically become a member of the new state.
Andhra Pradesh in its current form has 42 parliamentary seats, of which 17 lie in Telangana. While Telangana will vote on April 30, Seemandhra votes on May 7. Results will be announced on May 16.