HYDERABAD: APCC president K. Keshava Rao has asked Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao to refrain from contesting the byelection to the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat as it will not help achieve his goal of separate statehood.

He maintained that the Congress alone was inclined to and interested in considering the demand for statehood for Telangana positively. Statehood for the region would become a reality only under the Congress rule and not when a smaller party was ruling the Centre, he said, while addressing a gathering at Gandhi Bhavan here on Friday after former president of APCO V. Sriramulu and his followers joined the Congress.

Dr. Keshava Rao said the Congress would actively campaign in favour of the Telangana sentiment in the upcoming byelection. Its leaders would launch a door-to-door campaign to impress upon the people that AICC president Sonia Gandhi was not opposed to separate statehood but was only taking time to seek a consensus on the issue.

Moreover, the TRS had agreed prior to the 2004 general election to the constitution of a second States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) and joined hands with the Congress. It was the TRS that had changed overnight but not the ruling party, he said. Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy said the creation of separate Telangana would give momentum to similar demands from other regions in the country such as Gorkhaland and Vidarbha. Therefore, Ms. Gandhi needed time to consider the issue in its entirety before taking a decision.

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