Hyderabad: Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on April 27 advocated the creation of smaller states for better governance and to remove economic and regional imbalances.

Talking to reporters, Gowda said during his tenure in the office of Prime Minister, the creation of Jharkhand state was ratified by his Cabinet, to which the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was the constituent.

There is a people's movement and demand for a separate Telangana state and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), spearheading the movement, demands that the Union and the Andhra Pradesh governments concede it, Gowda, who arrived in Hyderabad on his way to Warangal to participate in the second anniversary of TRS later in the day, said.

Asked about a similar demand in his own state Karnataka, Gowda said this was a political demand and there was no people's movement for it.

"You cannot draw a parallel with the Telangana issue," he said, adding the constitution of State Reorganisation Commission would justify such demands in other states.

Complimenting the Vajpayee government at the Centre for completing its full tenure, the former Prime Minister said there were achievements and failures in every government.

"The NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government witnessed farmers' suicide and hunger deaths which was never seen in the history of the country," he added.

PTI