The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : ‘Teach anti-Telangana parties a lesson’

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Wednesday, Mar 12, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

‘Teach anti-Telangana parties a lesson’

KCR asks Congress leaders of the region to stand by people

Photo G. Krishnaswamy.

In poll mode: TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao at a meeting organised by Telangana Intellectual Forum on Tuesday in Hyderabad to felicitate MPs and MLAs who resigned recently -

HYDERABAD: Gearing up to face by-elections, Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhara Rao has called upon people of the region to drive away anti-Telangana parties.

“The only alternative left for the people of the region, who have waited for decades for a separate State, is to teach the anti-Telangana political parties a fitting lesson,” Mr. Rao said addressing a solidarity meeting organised here on Tuesday. “This can be achieved only when we (people of Telangana) get complete political power in the next elections,” he said.

“Ensure that all the 119 TRS candidates sweep the elections, whether it is in the by-elections or the General Elections,” the TRS chief said amid slogan shouting by the pro-Telangana activists. “People of the region are seething with anger but are maintaining silence with the hope that a separate State will be carved out shortly,” he remarked.

He took a dig at the Congress leaders from the region, who were silent on the statehood issue. “Your silence will cost us dearly and it is time you come out and stand by the people of the region,” he pointed out.

TRS ideologue K. Jayashankar wanted the people to confront the Congress Ministers, who would be touring the districts during the elections.

Stating that the struggle for a separate Telangana State had reached a crucial stage, Prof. Jayashankar wondered why the Congress leaders were swallowing insults heaped on them by the leaders of other regions. “People will not accept such humiliation,” he noted.

The meeting saw the former MPs and legislators of the TRS, who resigned from the Assembly and the Council, making a collective appearance.

The occasion saw a cross section of employees, teachers, poets, intellectuals and others from the region openly welcoming the decision of the TRS to ‘sacrifice’ their seats.

Equating the struggle to a ‘holy war’, the speakers said the TRS leaders were like Pandavas, who were waging a bitter war against the Kauravas.

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