TRS MLAs ponder over continuance in UPA coalition

New Delhi, Aug 19 (UNI) A meeting of MLAs of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) will be held at the residence of TRS Chief and Union Labour Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao today following his threat to pull out of the Union Cabinet if the government did not grant separate statehood to backward Telangana region as promised before the Parliament elections.

TRS sources said Mr Rao, who had vowed not to return to Hyderabad 'empty handed' has told his supporters that the TRS would take decision on continuance in the Union Government by Tuesday and the decision will be conveyed to UPA Chairman and Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Majority of the party MLAs are in Delhi and will attend the afternoon meeting, sources said.

Though the Congress is in no mood to accept the TRS demand for statehood TRS has the backing of parties like the Nationalist Congress Party of Sharad Pawar and the Rashtriya Janata Dal of Lalu Prasad while the Left Parties have opposed creation of new states.

The Congress is expected to dispatch its General Secretary Digvijay Singh to do some trouble shooting exercise to salvage the situation. The TRS has five MPs and 26 MLAs in Andhra Pradesh. The TRS has pulled out of Andhra Pradesh coalition long ago and it has two ministers in the Union Cabinet including Mr Rao and Union Minister of State for Rural Development A Narendra.

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