The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : One more attempt for statehood fails

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Wednesday, Aug 23, 2006

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

One more attempt for statehood fails

W. Chandrakanth

Two-and-a-half-year wait ends in disillusionment for Telangana Rashtra Samithi

GOING BACK IN TIME: Then PCC chief D. Srinivas, TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao and TRS leader A. Narendra at a press meeting in Hyderabad on March 4, 2004 announcing the resolution passed by the high command, stating that another States Reorganisati on Commission be formed to look into the Telangana issue. — File photo: Satish H.

HYDERABAD: It has taken a little over two years and five months for the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to bid goodbye to the alliance with the Congress being disillusioned with the latter's calibrated silence over the issue of Statehood for Telangana.

The impasse finally forced Union Ministers K. Chandrasekhara Rao and A. Narendra out of the UPA Cabinet on Tuesday, marking the end of a much troubled coalition that helped the Congress emerge stronger here at the cost of the TRS with the stated objective, separate Telangana, being not in sight.

When then deputy Speaker of the State Assembly K. Chandrasekhara Rao resigned from the TDP and post and floated the TRS on April 27, 2001, to campaign for separate Telangana, it was a tentative beginning for those who joined hands with him. A similar movement in the region in late 60s had turned violent claiming nearly 400 lives but its leader M. Channa Reddy merged his Telangana Praja Samithi, which had 11 MPs, with the Congress in 1971.

Join hands

BJP leader Narendra who had launched Telangana Sadhana Samithi joined hands with Mr. Rao soon. The general election in April-May 2004 brought the TRS and the Congress together only after the AICC declared: "While respecting the report of the first States Reorganisation Commission (SRC), the Congress Party notes that there are many valid reasons for formation of separate State. The Party feels that the whole matter could be best addressed by another SRC."

Happy with the AICC's response, Mr. Chandrasekhara Rao had appealed to the CPI (M) to understand the socio-political dynamics of the issue and join hands to form a grand alliance. But, the CPI (M) maintained its firm resolve to oppose the formation of a separate State to the relief of the Congress leaders. Some of them even declared openly that as long as the Left parties opposed separate Telangana, there was no way the UPA could yield. A UPA sub-committee on Telangana headed by Pranab Mukherjee failed to achieve consensus.

In between, the spat with the Congress leaders finally led to the six TRS Ministers walking out of the State Cabinet in July last.

This also led to a clamour from within the TRS to seek the resignations of their Union Ministers. All the while, the TRS, dogged as it was with dissidence and desertions, kept losing ground in the municipal and panchayat elections.

The pressure from partymen led to the final move to quit the Union Cabinet. During its alliance with the ruling party, the TRS has acquired a magnificent structure, Telangana Bhavan, its headquarters in Hyderabad, but the core issue remains unresolved.

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