HYDERABAD: A day after arriving here following his resignation from the Union Cabinet, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao began a brainstorming meeting with senior leaders on how to take the party into agitation mode for separate Telangana.

Mr. Rao and his former Cabinet colleague A. Narendra meant serious business as they discussed plans with participants to strengthen the organisational network while carrying on the agitation in a peaceful manner. The upcoming rally of the party at Siddipet on September 8 was central to the three-hour long discussion that was attended by party MPs, MLAs and others. It will continue on Friday afternoon.

Briefing reporters, N. Narasimha Reddy and E. Rajender, MLAs, said the party was focused on making the Siddipet public meeting a new `milestone' in its journey to achieve the objective. People from 30 to 40 Assembly constituencies around Siddipet would be mobilised.

Election bugle

Sources said the TRS chief wanted the party to strive to win 15 Lok Sabha and 90 to 100 Assembly constituencies on its own in next elections. That would automatically ensure the creation of separate Telangana. More importantly, he laid emphasis on the party's chances in the elections to the reconstituted Legislative Council and the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad.

Mr. Rao was quoted as saying that Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar had counselled him against quitting the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

He reportedly insisted that the movement did not slip into the hands of students lest it turned violent. He shared his views as to how the Congress leadership misinformed UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi about the Telangana sentiment.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail