By IANS
Hyderabad : Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) President K. Chandrasekhara Rao Thursday warned the Congress party against “testing the patience” of the people of Telangana over granting it statehood.
He warned that the region would turn into a battlefield if the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the centre continued to delay the process of forming a separate Telangana.
“The Congress alone will be responsible for the consequences of public anger,” Rao said while addressing party workers here during a daylong fast by TRS leaders and activists.
More than 100,000 party leaders and workers observed the fast in all assembly constituencies in the Telangana region as part of the party’s protest programme over the issue.
The warning by TRS chief came on a day when senior Congress party leaders from the region met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi to demand immediate steps for formation a separate state.
KCR, as the TRS chief is popularly known, asked Congress party legislators from the region to quit and join hands with him for a separate Telangana.
“It is up to you to decide whether you want to go down in the history of Telangana as its saviours or traitors,” he said.
Lashing out at Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy for opposing a separate Telangana, Rao said no development package could silence the demand.
“We want rights on our resources, we want self-rule and self-respect,” he said.
Telangana comprises 10 districts including Hyderabad. KCR revived the decades old Telangana movement by launching the TRS in 2001.