Special Correspondent

No change in stand on trust vote: Chandrasekhar Rao

NEW DELHI: Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday wondered why the UPA government was still dilly-dallying on the separate Telangana issue, as the Left, which according to the Congress, was a hurdle in approving the separate State, had already left the combine.

“We are not asking anything new. We only wanted what is already there in the common minimum programme of the UPA government and the President’s address to the joint session of the Parliament on Telangana,” he told The Hindu from Hyderabad.

The TRS was not ready to get deceived further by the ‘sweet words’ of the Congress. “We have already been betrayed. Enough is enough.”

Reiterating that the three-member TRS would vote against the UPA government in the confidence motion to be moved by the latter on the nuclear deal, Mr. Rao said the party would not change its stand unless the Union Cabinet passed a resolution for the formation of a separate Telangana. “The Cabinet resolution is the beginning of the official process which will lead us to achieve our goal.”

He did not deny that the Congress had sent feelers to him to change his stand vis-À-vis the confidence motion. Mr. Rao charged that the Congress was having some mental block on the subject due to the game played by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

“Mr. YSR is blocking the formation of the separate State and the Congress high command has succumbed to his politics,” Mr. Rao added.

Meanwhile BJP general secretary M. Venkiah Naidu welcomed the TRS decision and said the TRS was the latest to join the ranks of parties ditched by the Congress after the JMM, MDMK, Rashtriya Lok Dal, and Bahujan Samajwadi Party.