Rao 'ready to die' for separate Telangana

Hyderabad: Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) President and Member of Parliament K. Chandrasekhara Rao has urged the people of Telengana to decide whether they want to attend his funeral procession or the victory procession following the creation of a separate state.

Addressing a press conference in it the city yesterday, Rao stated that the Telengana issue has reached a decisive phase. He announced a series of programmes culminating in a fast until death later this month.

Rao said that he was going to meet the Prime Minister and the President in New Delhi, governor and chief minister in Hyderabad and leaders of all other major parties to submit a memorandum to them and brief them about his decision to fast until death for Telangana state.

"The government and all the political parties will be responsible for the consequences for my fast unto death," he said.

Demand

KCR said that he will visit New Delhi on Monday and Tuesday and in addition to the president and prime minister, he will meet the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the leader of opposition L.K. Advani and submit a memorandum to them demanding the formation of Telangana state.

He said he will be meeting the Chief Minister K. Rosaiah and the governor N.D. Tiwari tomorrow in Hyderabad and brief them about his decision.

As part of a build up, the party will hold meetings in all of the 119 assembly constituency across the Telangana region from tomorrow until Monday.

The party along with the other organisations fighting for Telangana region will also organise 15,000 village-level meetings across the region, he said.

"This time there is no question of stopping the movement in the middle.

"We are going for a decisive fight this time," he said.