HYDERABAD: Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday announced his resignation to the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat and dared Congress MLAs and MPs from Telangana to quit saying his party's elected representatives would follow suit.

Within two hours of his announcement, Minister for Sports M. Satyanarayana Rao also offered to step down from the Cabinet and quit as MLA but on two conditions. He asked only Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao to contest against him and take `political sanyas' in the event of the latter's defeat. On his part, he would quit public life if trounced by the TRS chief.

At a press conference, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao said that he would be sending his resignation to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. His action followed the challenge thrown by Mr. Satyanarayana Rao that both should resign their seats and test their strength in a Parliamentary by- election from Karimnagar. The Minister's poser was endorsed by APCC chief K. Keshav Rao who said he would ensure that the by-poll was held within a month.

However, the Congress party was caught in a bind with the TRS chief's announcement. Mr. M. Satyanarayana Rao as well Dr. Keshava Rao, evaded straight answers on the issue. While the Minister's offer was conditional, the PCC chief took the stand that it was a personal fight between the two.

Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao said that the Congress leaders had become jittery following the success of `Telangana Samarasankharavam', his party's public meeting at Siddipet last week and began to indulge in mud-slinging.

Rejecting the Congress leaders' claim that TRS had won the seats because of their alliance, he said, it was the Congress that had got a new lease of life because of the Telangana movement. Stating that TRS never hankered after power, he declared that he would fight till his last breath for the creation of Telangana State.He accused the Congress of going back on its pre-poll assurance and beating around the bush although a consensus had emerged on Telangana at the national level.

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