Date:04/06/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/04/stories/2008060458440100.htm

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KCR ‘leaves’ TRS in confusion

— Photo: Satish. H

In disarray: TRS workers shouting slogans demanding withdrawal of party chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s resignation in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

HYDERABAD: The Telangana Rashtra Samiti plunged into a fresh crisis on Tuesday when its founder-president K. Chandrasekhar Rao submitted his formal resignation from the party president’s post and pressed for its acceptance.

Mr. Rao handed over his resignation letter to TRS general secretary S. Madhusudhana Chary in which he said he accepted “moral responsibility” for the party’s defeat in the byelections and urged the executive committee to accept his resignation.

Under intense pressure from party leaders and the cadre, Mr. Rao, however, softened later in the day and agreed to chair an emergency meeting of the executive on Wednesday afternoon convened to consider his resignation letter.

The TRS president’s decision triggered protests in several Telangana districts with partymen staging ‘rasta roko’ and dharnas appealing to him to desist from the move.

High drama

Telangana Bhavan, the party headquarters, witnessed a repeat of the high drama enacted on Sunday following speculation that the party chief had resigned. Party activists stormed the building and turned up in good numbers at Mr. Rao’s residence nearby raising slogans in his favour. Mr. Rao kept away from the media for the third consecutive day, but interacted with leaders who called on him to persuade him to stay on.

“We cannot imagine the struggle for Telangana without Mr. Rao. He brought the movement to the present stage and we want to secure separate State under his leadership,” Mr. Madhusudana Chary and N. Narasimha Reddy told reporters. They contended that there was no need for the resignation as the TRS owed its setback to the use of money and liquor allegedly used by the Telugu Desam Party and the Congress, besides their misleading assurances on separate statehood for Telangana.

Party sources said Mr. Rao expressed to his party leaders his distress over the lack of enthusiasm among the educated sections, employees and intellectuals to motivate people to cast their votes in the bypolls. TRS executive committee members expressed confidence on convincing their leader to withdraw his resignation.