Hyderabad, April 27 (IANS) Elected unopposed for the seventh consecutive term as president of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), K. Chandrasekhara Rao Saturday urged people of Telangana to give 100 assembly seats and 15 to 16 Lok Sabha seats to his party to achieve separate statehood to the region.
Predicting polls in October-November this year, he asked the party cadre to be prepared and appealed to people to “wipe out pro-Andhra parties” from Telangana.
KCR, as Rao is popularly known, virtually began his party’s poll campaign at the party’s 13th formation day conference at Armoor in Nizamabad by making a slew of promises.
Targetting all three major parties (Congress, Telugu Desam Party and YSR Congress), the TRS chief asked people of Telangana to defeat them to usher in an era of their own rule with self-respect.
Promising to turn Telangana state into a model state, KCR said students of all sections would be provided free education from KG to PG, loans of all 21 lakh farmers would be waived off and 12 percent reservation would be provided to tribals.
He also promised to transform agriculture, generate 5,000 megawatt electricity and get due share in the railway projects.
Highlighting the injustices meted out the region for decades, he said after the formation of Telangana state, it would get its due share in the waters of Krishna and Godavari rivers.
The TRS leader warned of massive protests in May if the government failed to drop its move to allocate iron ore mines of Bayyaram (in Telangana) to Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (in Andhra).
Vowing not to rest till separate Telangana state is achieved, KCR made it clear that there would be no compromise on Hyderabad as the capital of the new state.
He said he was re-dedicating himself to the cause and offered to continue his services to the party till it achieves its single-point agenda.
He also demanded the central government to table a bill in parliament to carve out separate Telangana state. “If the prime minister has any respect for the democracy and for the promise he made to parliament and to people, he should table the bill in the parliament,” the MP from Mahabubnagar said.
The TRS chief said conspiracies could never stop Telangana. He declared that the TRS leaders would join the “Sansad yatra” in Delhi on Monday to demand separate state.
Welcoming TDP legislator Kamlakar Rao into the party fold, KCR claimed that many state legislators and MPs from other parties would soon join the TRS.
Earlier, TRS leader N. Narasimha Rao announced that KCR was elected unopposed as the party president. He said no other leader had filed nomination for the post.
KCR had quit TDP to float TRS in 2000. In 2004 elections, which it fought in alliance with Congress party, TRS won 26 assembly and five Lok Sabha seats. The sub-regional party joined hands with TDP and the Left parties in 2009 elections but its strength in the assembly and Lok Sabha came down to 10 and two respectively.
However, the developments later that year and the indefinite fast by KCR infused new life into the movement.
The central government on Dec 9, 2009 declared that the process for formation of separate Telangana state would be initiated. However, the mass resignations of MPs and MLAs and the protests in Andhra and Rayalaseema regions forced the central government to put the process on hold.
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