Date:26/02/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/26/stories/2008022650160100.htm

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Bypolls will be a referendum: KCR

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K. Chandrashekhar Rao has said that the by-elections that would be necessitated by the resignation of the party MPs and MLAs in a week’s time would be a referendum on the demand for separate Telangana.

Speaking to The Hindu from New Delhi after TRS MPs boycotted the President’s address to the joint session of Parliament on Monday, Mr. Rao said elections would have to be conducted in 40 out of 107 Assembly constituencies in Telangana following the resignation of the four MPs and sixteen MLAs. They would be a mini-general election guiding the future of separate Telangana.

Fresh mandate

Mr. Rao said the TRS was pushed to take the extreme step of submitting resignations after waiting for four years for the Congress-led UPA Government to fulfil its promise on statehood for Telangana. The Congress went back on its promise despite making a commitment in the Common Minimum Programme of UPA. It was under these circumstances that the party chose to take a fresh mandate from people.