K Chandrasekhar Rao rules out withdrawing resignation from LS

Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and former Union minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has ruled out withdrawing his resignation from the Lok Sabha.

KCR, who sent his resignation letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Tuesday, said that there was no question of backtracking on his decision. "I have sent my resignation letter by speedpost to the speaker. There is no change in my decision. If at all, I will reconsider it only if the Congress leadership comes up with a definite timeframe for creation of separate Telangana state," he told newsmen on Wednesday night.

The TRS chief said that he would meet the speaker when the latter summons him to authenticate the resignation in person as required under the rules.

"The issue of separate Telangana state is central to our party. We will not dilute the movement. We are prepared to make any sacrifices for the Telangana cause. We will not make any compromise on our core demand," he added.

KCR indicated that he would like to broadbase his fight against the Congress by lending support to separate statehood movements in other places such as Vidarbha and Bundelkhand.

"I will fight not only for Telangana, but I will also participate in the movement for separate Vidarbha and Bundelkhand states. Leaders like Purushotham Agrawal from Vidarbha have been calling me constantly to lead the agitation. I have accepted their invitation. I have also spoken to Uma Bharti (former Madhya Pradesh chief minister) asking her to launch the movement for Bundelkhand," he pointed out.

Outlining his plans, the TRS chief said that he would bring about coordination among the parties and leaders fighting for separate statehood in other states. "We will win considerable number of Lok Sabha seats from Telangana, Vidarbha and Bundelkhand in the next elections and emerge as a key player in Parliament. We will force the government to carve out these smaller states," he added.

Asked about Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy's comment that "TRS is still a part of the UPA," KCR said that he was going step by step.

First, he and senior leader A Narendra quit the Union Cabinet. Now, he has resigned from the Lok Sabha. "We will meet the President (Dr A P J Abdul Kalam) and complete the formalities (of withdrawing from UPA) soon," he explained.

Meanwhile, Narendra, too, wanted to follow in the footsteps of KCR and contemplated resigning from the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. In fact, he had hurriedly convened a press conference at 3 pm to announce his resignation, but was persuaded by KCR to drop his plan for the time being.  

Narendra sought to quit the Lok Sabha seat in response to the challenge from State Information and Public Relations Minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir to give up his seat and contest again to prove that there is support for separate Telangana demand.

In fact, Shabbir had sent in his resignation letter from the State Cabinet and the Assembly to chief minister and offered to contest against Narendra for Lok Sabha in case of a by-election. However, the chief minister refused to accept Shabbir's resignation.

It may be recalled that Narendra was elected from Medak constituency in 2004 Lok Sabha elections as a TRS candidate with Congress support. Shabbir was elected from Kamareddy segment in the simultaneous elections to Assembly. Kamareddy is one of the seven Assembly segments of Medak parliamentary constituency.