Rao: More rebellion

Hyderabad, Nov. 6: Another rebellion has erupted in the Telengana Rashtra Samiti even before the dust could settle on the revolt by former minister S. Santosh Reddy.

Four legislators from Warangal have labelled party president Chandrasekhar Rao a “dictator and selfish” and a fifth one from Medak has accused him of hurting the campaign for a separate Telengana state.

The Warangal legislators ? M. Satyanarayana Reddy, D. Srinivas Rao, K. Lakshma Reddy and Shoura Rani Narayan Rao ? criticised Chandrasekhar for promoting his nephews Harish and Umesh.

Their colleague from Sangareddy in Medak, T. Jayaprakash Reddy, charged him with colluding with the Congress against the Telengana cause.

The TRS president had made his nephew T. Harish Rao the legislator from Siddipet and a minister in the Congress-led Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh. Now another nephew, Umesh Rao, has been elevated as general secretary in the jumbo executive. Chandrasekhar’s son K. Rama Rao was also recently inducted into politics as an executive member.

The party, which made the promise of a Telengana state its election plank in 2004, has lost much ground since, with no visible progress on the statehood issue. It was routed in the local body polls this September, winning only two municipalities out of 96. The Congress took the lion’s share, trouncing the TRS even in the Telengana districts.

To make matters worse for the TRS, chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy has announced that “development of backward Telengana will become a reality only in an integrated Andhra Pradesh”.

A senior Congress minister said: “We are keen on the revival of the state legislative council and not the formation of Telengana. With the Left parties opposed to both, we are trying to win them over to accept at least one ? the revival of the legislative council.”

Early last month, Santosh Reddy had raised the banner of revolt against Chandrasekhar and denounced his leadership. He had hoisted himself as TRS president after being expelled from the party. But Reddy had the support of only three TRS legislators.

Now, Chandrasekhar has to contend with opposition from junior rural development minister A. Narendra, who has thrown his weight behind the five rebel legislators and criticised the party chief for elevating his relatives and being tough with critics.