HYDERABAD: Rejecting the Congress high command's plea to relent, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao declared here on Wednesday that there was no question of withdrawing his resignation as Member of Parliament from Karimnagar.

Mr. Rao said that he had already despatched his resignation letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee by post on Tuesday. He would meet Mr. Chatterjee as and when the latter summoned him to authenticate his letter as required under the rules.

Speaking to reporters, he said the question of reconsidering his decision in deference to All-India Congress Committee's (AICC) appeal did not arise as it would amount to playing politics with the demand for separate Telangana. The issue of Telangana was central to his party and he could reconsider his decision only if the AICC spelt out a timeframe for separate statehood.

Warns of backfire

The TRS, he said, was leading a movement and any tinkering with it would backfire. "We will not dilute the movement," he remarked. To a question whether AICC leaders had contacted him, the TRS chief said it was senior party leader A. Narendra who had received the phone call. Mr. Narendra declined to disclose details of the conversation though Mr. Rao said the Congress leadership appeared to be exploring different options.

In the presence of reporters, Mr. Rao answered a phone call from the leader of separate Vidarbha agitation Pourshotham Agrawal, and promised to visit the region to express solidarity with the struggle there. He said efforts were on to carry on the separate Telangana, Vidarbha and Bundelkhand agitations simultaneously. On a day of behind-the-scene activity in both Congress and TRS camps, Mr. Narendra convened a press conference at 3 p.m. but called it off later. It is believed that Mr. Narendra also wanted to resign but was prevented. Meanwhile, Mr. Narendra scotched rumours that Mr. Rao may not contest from Karimnagar when the vacancy arose following the acceptance of his resignation.

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