The Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Monday organised a massive show of strength in Warangal, but refrained from launching a frontal attack on the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh.
The Warangal rally was the first public meeting after the withdrawal of six TRS ministers from the state cabinet. Contrary to expectations, the meeting turned out to be a tame affair, with TRS boss and Union Labour Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao indulging in only muted criticism of the state government. There were no fireworks in his 25-minute speech.
Chandrasekhar Rao asked people to have patience since the process of formation of Telangana would take time.
"Our demands are known (to one and all). I want you to be patient. If this strategy does not work, we will show the strength of Telangana. Some of the decisions taken by the state government on issues pertaining to Telangana have hurt our sentiments. We have conveyed our grievances to the right quarters," he said, referring to the complaint made by him to Congress high command against certain actions of Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy.
"I am ready to sacrifice my life for Telangana. I will carry on the struggle for creation of Telangana against any odds. I am not bothered about the actions of individuals or forces which are trying to create obstacles in our way. I am not for power or posts. TRS will fight against injustice to Telangana in the matter of water-sharing for irrigation projects,employment opportunities for locals and such other issues," an emotionally charged Rao declared.
Nationalist Congress Party president and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said he empathised with the demand for a separate Telangana state. The TRS has succeeded in bringing the issue to national agenda in the last four years. Separate Telangana was the demand of the people of the backward region and not that of a political party.
Joining issue with those who claimed that smaller states were unviable, he said that Haryana, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh which were carved out of Punjab, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, had shown a lot of progress. Separate Telangana was included in the United Progressive Alliance's common minimum programme and several constituents of UPA supported this demand.
"This is going to be your final struggle to achieve Telangana state. It may take a day, a month, a year or maybe four years but you will realise your goal. No power in India, nay on earth, can prevent the formation of Telangana," he declared.
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