Hyderabad, March 03: As the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) leaders get cracking with preparations for the Million March on March 10, party president K Chandrasekhar Rao and Medak MP Vijayashanthi left for Delhi to take care of the agitation at the Centre – creating ruckus in the Lok Sabha with the help of like-minded parties and forcing the Centre to issue a statement favouring bifurcation of the state.
According to sources, Chandrasekhar Rao briefly outlined what he intended to do at Delhi at the party state executive committee meeting earlier in the day while stressing the need to make the Million March a success. His work at Delhi and the protest in Hyderabad should serve as a double whammy for the Centre which was already rattled by the success of rail roko yesterday.
The executive reportedly took serious exception to Union home minister P Chidambaram’s statement that the Telangana issue could not be settled overnight and that it would take time.
The party is understood to have felt that the statement would only complicate the issue further.
The party wanted the Centre to honour the commitment it had given on Dec 9, 2009 and initiate process for bifurcation of the state.
“The Centre should immediately take measures for introduction of a bill in Parliament,” TRS leader K T Rama Rao said after the meeting.
For their part, Chandrasekhar Rao and Vijayashanthi would try to move an adjournment motion tomorrow in the Lok Sabha and stall proceedings of the House with the help of NDA partners.
The party workers would also hold talks with Congress MPs from Telangana to join them in stalling the proceedings and thus demonstrate their commitment to the Telangana cause.
“The response from the Congress MPs would make it clear whether they were with the people of the region or with the party that is not interested in delivering Telangana,” a TRS leader said.
The executive is understood to have decided to continue the pressure with one programme or the other till the Centre makes an announcement. Several leaders felt that the movement for Telangana had reached a decisive stage and there should not be any let up in the movement. They were expecting some statement before the Million March itself and if the Congress remained unmoved, the Million March would serve as an eye-opener for the Congress leadership, the party leaders said.
–Agencies