NEW DELHI: The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Saturday walked out of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). TRS president K. Chandra sekhar Rao resigned from the Lok Sabha in protest against the Government's failure to give a concrete assurance on the long-pending demand for separate statehood to Telangana.

The decision to leave the ruling coalition at the Centre came exactly a month after Mr. Rao stepped down as Union Labour Minister. While he sent a letter to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to inform him about the TRS decision to leave the UPA, Mr. Rao met Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Saturday morning to submit his resignation from the House as representative of the Karimnagar Parliamentary constituency in Andhra Pradesh. Mr. Chatterjee accepted his resignation.

Mr. Rao told a press conference later that the Karimnagar by-election would be a referendum on Telangana. Asked whether he would contest the seat and forge an alliance with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) now that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had extended support to his cause, he said the party's State committee would take these decisions.

Promises not kept

Flanked by the remaining four members of the Lok Sabha from his party, Mr. Rao criticised both the Prime Minister and the Congress for going back on promises made both before and after the elections on statehood for Telangana. "The Government even made the President lie by including a promise on separate statehood in his address to the joint session of Parliament."

Accusing the Congress of being opportunistic, he said that when he was in the Opposition, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy came to Delhi with 42 party legislators and asked UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to take up the Telangana issue. "In fact, both Ms. Gandhi and Mr. Reddy donned Telangana colours with our map for the separate State when they went on their election tours in the region."

Also, he refused to find fault with the Communist Party of India (Marxist)'s refusal to support separate statehood for Telangana — a fact cited by Congress circles for the Government's reluctance to take forward the demand. "The CPI (M) has been consistent in its opposition to smaller States. The Congress is only trying to fire from its shoulders to cover up its betrayal of the Telangana cause."

Favourable arithmetic

As for the Government's refrain that a consensus still evaded the issue, the TRS president said the arithmetic favoured separate Telangana. Counting the entire NDA and Congress benches and adding to it the 136 members of the Lok Sabha who had pledged support for it, Mr. Rao said the cause enjoyed the support of 2/3rds of the lower House. "If this is not consensus, then what is?"

About the Congress contention that the BJP's support cannot be counted upon since the party is yet to give it in writing to the Pranab Mukherjee Committee entrusted with the task of building a political consensus, Mr. Rao said it was improper for the ruling party to cast such aspersions on the principal Opposition party.

For now, the TRS chief will focus his and his party's energy on the Karimnagar by-election. Once that ends, he plans to raise the pitch of the agitation for Telangana.

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