By IANS,
Hyderabad : Bowing to the pressure from Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) cadres, K. Chandrasekhara Rao Wednesday withdrew his resignation as party president and declared that the movement for separate statehood would continue.
His decision came a couple of hours after he party executive unanimously passed a resolution, appealing him to take back his resignation. With this the four-day long crisis in the sub-regional party blew over.
“I bow my head before the party leaders, intellectuals and Telangana supporters, who appealed to me not to step down. Respecting their wishes and aspirations, I am withdrawing the resignation,” Rao announced amid loud cheers at the executive meeting, the second in the day, at Telangana Bhavan, the party headquarters.
KCR, as Rao is popularly known, made it clear that there was no question of giving up the movement for separate state and said the future course of action would be announced in a day or two.
Making his first public appearance after the party’s defeat in the by-elections, KCR claimed that the votes polled by TRS in the by-elections were more than the votes secured by Congress and Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
“We secured 36 percent votes though the number of seats came down while Congress and TDP got 29 and 25 percent votes respectively despite using money and liquor,” he said.
TRS, which is fighting for carving out a separate state of Telangana, could retain only two of the four Lok Sabha seats and seven of 16 assembly seats in Thursday’s by-elections, whose results were announced Sunday.
Shocked by the defeat, KCR Sunday decided to quit as party president and Tuesday sent his resignation to party general secretary Madhusudhana Chary.
The executive rejected his resignation. However, KCR kept the party cadres in confusion by staying away from the meeting.
Later, a delegation of senior party leaders went to KCR’s resignation and persuaded him to take back his resignation. He was then brought to the party office in a huge convoy.
In a voice chocked with emotion, KCR explained the reasons of going to the by-polls. He said the step was taken after taking people’s approval at public meetings to ‘expose’ the Congress and TDP.
The TRS chief said he was overwhelmed by the love and affection the party rank and file in this hour of crisis. “I am grateful to you for your love at a time when I was feeling low,” he said.
“Even if somebody trains AK-47 at me, I will not give up Telangana movement. Under any circumstances the movement will not stop,” he declared and hinted that the party would intensify the movement with a new slogan.
KCR announced that the TRS would observe a shutdown in Telangana Friday to protest the steep hike in the prices of petroleum products.
Earlier, the executive meeting, presided over by legislator V. Laxmikantha Rao, felt that KCR was not responsible for the party’s defeat.
TRS ideologue and former Kakatiya University vice chancellor Jayashankar said there was no alternative to KCR’s leadership and he should continue leading the movement at this “decisive stage”.
He advised KCR not to feel disheartened by the defeat as such setbacks were common for any movement.
“We may have lost the battle but we will win the war. The final victory will be ours,” he said and advised party leaders and cadres to remain united and re-dedicate themselves to the movement.
Jayashankar claimed TRS was now stronger than it was in the 2004 elections.
“KCR brought the Telangana issue to the centrestage and took it to the national agenda in four years. It is no mean achievement,” he said.