Rao withdraws resignation, vowes to intensify Telangana stir

Hyderabad, Jun 4 (UNI) Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K Chandrasekhara Rao today withdrew his resignation after the party state executive rejected it outright during its meeting here.

Mr Rao quit the post of party president yesterday, owning moral responsibility for the defeat of the TRS in the just concluded byelection.

Mr Rao, who came to the party office immediately after the Executive rejected his resignation, said ''I was hurt with the byelection results in which the TRS had won only seven MLA seats out of 17 and two MP seats out of four.

Thanking the state Executive for the support to his leadership, he said ''I obey the instructions given by the party Executive and promise to work for the cause of Telangana with double spirit along with the party workers.'' Claiming that TRS got 35 per cent votes, excluding Khairatabad Assembly constituency, while the ruling Congress got 29 per cent and the Opposition TDP got 24 per cent, Mr Rao said ''he will not leave the Telangana movement even after an AK 47 rifle was put on his chest.'' Stating that the TRS went for byelections with the support of the Telangana people to exert pressure on the political parties for a separate state, he said ''the TRS' aim was to protect the Telangana from exploitation. The party would organise a meeting with writers and intellectuals in two or three days to prepare a strategy to intensify the movement for separate Telangana state.

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