A by-poll in the name of Telangana

The Congress will field its candidate in the by-election to Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat vacated by TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Reacting to the withdrawal of TRS from the United Progressive Alliance and the acceptance of Rao's resignation from the Lok Sabha, AP Congress Committee president K Keshav Rao on Saturday said the development was expected.

He said that the TRS owed an answer to the people as to why it severed ties with the UPA, when the efforts were on to evolve a consensus on the establishment of a separate Telangana state.

Keshav Rao reiterated that the Congress was committed to the cause of Telangana unlike the TRS. 

The Bharatiya Janata Party would also contest the by-election, national secretary Bandaru Dattatreya said. He, however, added a final decision on the issue would be taken based on future developments.

Meanwhile, the communist Party of India-Marxist CPI (M) politburo member Sitaram Yechuri said that his party would not consider or accept the Karimnagar Lok Sabha by-election result as a referendum on separate Telangana issue. He said that no single issue could decide the results in a democratic set-up.