Nothing short of Telangana state acceptable to us: TRS

Ahead of the meeting of eight recognised political parties convened by the Centre to discuss the Srikrishna Committee report and the way forward, Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Friday said anything short of statehood for Telangana will not be acceptable to it.

"We make it abundantly clear to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that we will not accept anything short of Telangana (statehood)," TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao said at a meeting of Telangana Gazetted and Non-Gazetted Officers associations in Hyderabad.

Hoping that the Centre would not come up with any proposal that is short of statehood for Telangana, he said such proposals would be insulting to the region and the party would not hesitate to walk out of the meeting if it felt the need to do so.

Soon after the submission of the committee report on Thursday, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said he proposed to convene a meeting of eight recognised political parties of Andhra Pradesh on January 6.

Chidambaram had said the government will consider the report carefully and begin the process of consultations with all parties before taking a decision.

In the event of the United Progressive Alliance not taking steps for formation of separate Telangana, MLAs and other public representatives from Congress and Telugu Desam Party, the major parties in the state, will have to resign to mount pressure on the Centre, Rao said.

"While talking about the heavy security deployment being made in Telangana, I asked what our political battalion is doing. You (the government employees in Telangana) say you are ready to conduct a spirited campaign like pen-down strike. If they have shame, the Telangana political battalion should move," Rao said.

Seeking to mount pressure on TDP and ruling Congress, he said these major parties are speaking in two voices on the Telangana demand, but they will have to make their stand clear at the meeting convened by the Centre.

Pointing out that the Centre gave an assurance in Parliament on formation of Telangana state, he said what is the meaning for democracy if promises are not implemented.

Observing that remarkable awareness in support of statehood demand has come in Telangana, he said people have to be prepared for a protracted struggle to achieve the goal.

"Our enemies would try to defeat us. But we should not fall into their trap. Students and youth may be anxious for Telangana. They should not be carried away. We have to be strategic and fight till the goal is achieved," he said.

Apprehending that some sections of the media may try to play spoilsport, he said the Telangana people should be aware of such things.