Date:10/09/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/09/10/stories/2006091002941100.htm

National

Turnout peps up TRS leaders

W. Chandrakanth

`Self rule, not development of the region, is the issue'

HYDERABAD: Friday's meeting of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi at Siddipet, which its chief, K. Chandrasekhara Rao, described as the beginning of his second innings, has come as a shot in the arm for the party.

It is a second innings for him because Mr. Rao along with his colleague A. Narendra quit the Union Cabinet bowing to pressure from their followers and re-launched the struggle for a separate Telangana. The TRS is highly pleased with the turnout at the Siddipet meeting.

The TRS leaders tried to debunk the Congress' claim of developing Telangana and reminded them that the TDP had made even taller claims but people saw through its game in the 2004 Assembly polls. The moot question was not about development of the region alone but about self-rule for the people of Telangana, Mr. Rao said.

Demanding introduction of a resolution in Parliament for creating a separate Telangana, the TRS president threw the challenge to the Congressmen from the region to resign their seats in Parliament and in the Assembly and seek re-election. In such an event, the TRS would win almost every seat.

Unfazed by the TRS' rhetoric, the Congress leadership reacted sharply. The Minister for Information, Mohd. Ali Shabbir, offered to resign as MLA provided Mr. Narendra did likewise. "We will face elections afresh. Let us see who loses the security deposits," he said.