T Devender Goud, who quit the Telugu Desam party over the Telangana issue, has made it clear that his future political plans do not include any tie up with the Telangana Rahstra Samiti of K Chandrasekhara Rao or any other political party.
Goud, the former No 2 of the TDP, told mediapersosn that he has convened a meeting of the intellectuals and the elders, who have been associated with the Telangana movement, on June 28.
"In the light of their guidance and advice, we will finalise our future political plans and strategies," Goud said. When asked whether he would launch a new political party, Goud remained non-committal, but indicated that the formation of a new regional party was on the cards.
Goud made it clear that no political leader will be invited to the meeting. "We want to consult the elders and intellectuals , who played a major role in the Telangana movement in the past, on how to take the movement forward," he said.
However his decision against joining hands with the TRS came as a surprise because two top ideologues of the TRS Proessorf K Jayashankar, former Vice Chancellor, Kakatiya University and Vidyasagar Rao, former chief engineer of the Irrigation Department, visited Goud's residence and held a meeting with him for over an hour.
Jayashankar told the media that he was very happy with Goud's decision to quit the TDP. "This is a very good and positive development for the cause of Telangana. I am here to congratulate him," he said.
When asked if he was planning to join Goud, Professor Jayashankar said he would work with both of them like he had worked with several other Telangana leaders from Marri Channa Reddy (former Chief Minister) to G Chinna Reddy (present minister in the Congress government).
He said that Goud's decision to join the movement for Telangana had brought the goal of Telangana state nearer. "In my personal opinion, 2009 is the upper limit for achieving a separate Telangana state, fulfilling the long cherished dreams of Telangana people".
Goud hit out at the Telugu Desam party and its leadership, without directly naming party supremo Chandrababu Naidu.
"I did not have even one per cent confidence and hope in the five member core committee on Telangana set up by the TDP. It was only being used to keep the decision at bay till the next elections and dilly dallying," he said.
Goud alleged that the Telugu Desam party was indulging in the game of electoral arithmetic by calculating how many seats they could gain in Telangana. "The only issue of concern for all the political parties was how many seats they can win in different regions and how they can come to power. Instead of looking at the problem of Telangana people from the humanitarian angle, they were looking at it from the political and electoral angle," he said.
When asked if he was unaware of the grave injustice being meted out to the people of Telangana when he was holding an important portfolio in the TDP government, Goud said, "You do not know the difficult situation I was in at the time."
Goud also believes that the Telangana movement suffered a setback due to the recent debacle of the TRS in the by elections. He was also critical of the strategy adopted by K Chandrasekhara Rao and pointed out that despite getting a good opportunity from the people, TRS could not achieve its goal.
E Peddi Reddy, former spokesman of TDP, was also present at the press conference. When asked whether more leaders from the TDP were going to join him, Goud said that he had not consulted anybody before taking the decision to quit the TDP.
"I have not taken this step by depending on any other leader. So I don't know whether more leaders will leave the TDP or not," he said.
Meanwhile, senior leader Rajeshwara Rao today declared that he would remain in the TDP. Rao, who hails from Telangana, said, "If the TDP does not take a decision in favour of Telangana at the earliest, I will quit politics itself".
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