NALGONDA: Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K. Chandrasekhar Rao has suspected "Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy's hand" behind he Telangana Congress MLAs' demand for the constitution of the second States Reorganisation Commission (SRC).

Dubbing the SRC "a joke", Mr.Rao said: "The question of the SRC arises when the Government intends to reorganise all States in the country. It is not required to carve out a separate State. It (the MLAs' act) is a ploy to dilly-dally the process of forming the separate Telangana." He was addressing the `Meet the Press' programme organised by the Nalgonda Press Club here on Saturday.

Asserting that his victory in the Karimnagar byelection had given an unexpected jolt to the Congress, he said: "Digvijay Singh (in charge of Congress affairs in Andhra Pradesh) called up to congratulate me after 11 days of my resounding victory. Idi line kalupukune mucchata anna mata (This is an attempt to make friendship)."

Mr. Rao, during the one-and-a-half-hour programme, explained the efforts "to sustain the movement in a planned manner." Referring to the popular notion that such a demand couldn't be met without resorting to violence, the TRs chief said his "victory in Karimnagar is equivalent to thousand violent incidents."

Calculated risk

For the first time, the TRS president revealed that he had to take a calculated risk by tendering resignation to the Karimnagar parliamentary seat. "As I wanted to stir up the party cadres, who remained dull till then, in 10 districts, I took the decision and gave a body blow to the Congress," he maintained adding that his victory had given a "new turn" to the movement. He further said that the Assembly elections would be crucial for the movement. "Mind you, this is the era of coalition politics. If we can win 10 Lok Sabha seats and 100 Assembly seats, all parties would cajole us to help them forming Governments."

Mr. Rao exuded confidence of getting a stay order on the controversial Pulichintala and Pothireddypadu projects on January 12. He also announced that an NRI from the Telangana region was toying with the idea of launching a television channel. Later, he addressed a meeting organised by various unions representing the Telangana region after calling on visually-challenged persons at Surdas Bhavan being run by Development and Welfare Association of the Blind.

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