By IANS,
Hyderabad : The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) Sunday night launched its campaign for by-elections in Andhra Pradesh next month with a massive public meeting to mark its formation day.
TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao urged people to teach the ruling Congress party a lesson for betraying them on the issue of separate statehood to Telangana region.
Thousands of people from different parts of the region attended the public meeting at Parade Grounds in Secunderabad. With this meeting, the party flagged off its campaign for the May 29 by-elections.
The by-elections are necessary as four MPs and 16 members of the legislative assembly belonging to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had resigned last month to press their demand for separate statehood to Telangana. Two other assembly constituencies are also going to polls following the death of one legislator each of the Congress and the main opposition TDP.
KCR, as the TRS chief is popularly known, said the Congress government’s claims about the development of the region were a farce. He alleged the party had gone back on the promise made in 2004 elections to give separate statehood to Telangana.
He also lashed at TDP for its “double standards” on the issue. “TDP has said that it was not against a separate Telangana state. If this party is sincere it should withdraw the letter written to the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) sub-committee stating that it is opposed to the creation of a separate state,” he said.
The meeting passed a resolution urging the government to announce a Rs.5 billion package for rehabilitation of those who returned from the Gulf countries after they were cheated by unscrupulous recruitment agents. KCR demanded Rs.500,000 compensation for families of each of those who committed suicide in the Gulf.
It was on this day in 2001 that KCR had founded the party after quitting TDP to revive the decades old demand for a separate state of Telangana, which comprises nine districts including Hyderabad.