Somnath urges Rao to end fast

New Delhi, Aug 23: Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee today urged Mr K Chandrashekar Rao, who is on a hunger strike after resigning from the Union Cabinet over the Telangana issue, to end his fast and return to the House.

''I personally request him to discontinue his fast and join the House, and I have told him I will hear him,'' Mr Chatterjee pleaded when Mr Yerran Naidu (TDP) said the House had the right to know why the Labour Minister had resigned.

''I call upon all the members to join me in requesting him to return to the House,'' Mr Chatterjee said after the House met at 1200 hrs following an half-an-hour adjournment forced by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) members demanding the formation of a Telangana state as promised in the National Common Minimum Programme.

Mr Rao, who had resigned yesterday along with his party colleague A Narendra, is on a hunger strike at Jantar Mantar to press for the separate state.

UNI

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