Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday evening spurned the Congress offer on alliance for Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council polls.
Speaking to newsmen in Hyderabad, Chandrasekhar Rao rejected the two seats offered by the Congress from the local authorities constituencies. Taking exception to the 'unilateral announcement' of AP Congress Committee president K Keshav Rao on the issue, he declared that his party was ready to contest in these elections on its own after assessing its strength.
The TRS president, who quit the United Progressive Alliance government and got re-elected to Lok Sabha after resigning his seat last year, said the TRS was prepared for any kind of sacrifice for the sake of separate Telangana state.
"We are ready to surrender all the seats (in the Legislative Council polls) to the Congress if they come out with an announcement on formation of separate Telangana state. There is no question of alliance with Congress unless they come forward with a positive statement on the issue," Chandrasekhar Rao said.
"Our party was born out of sacrifices to fight for the cause of separate Telangana state. The two council seats have no value for us as Telangana statehood is our focus. Our party gives top priority to Telangana. The fight for separate Telangana is a question of life and death for the people of this region," he added.
Challenging the Congress to come out with a statement promising Telangana state, he said that his party was prepared to support the Congress in the council elections. Apart from giving away the two seats, the party was ready to extend support to the Congress for all the council seats as well.
"Unable to digest the growing strength and respect among the people for TRS, the Congress wants to give negative publicity and create doubts in the minds of the people about us. We are very clear in our minds. There is no confusion at all. We want Telangana state and nothing else," he said.
Asked if he had any discussions with the Congress on the council poll issue, Chandrasekhar Rao said that on Saturday, senior Congress leader Ahmad Patel had conveyed birthday greetings to him on behalf of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
"We had a brief chat on the alliance. From TRS side, we made it clear that Congress should come out with a statement on Telangana statehood and they agreed to look into the matter. "I had thought that the discussion would go on further, but without any further discussion the Congress party had made the announcement of forging an alliance which the TRS Party rejects," he added.
He claimed that TRS has considerable strength in the local bodies in four to five Telangana districts. After the Karimnagar Lok Sabha by-election, which he won by a record majority of 2 lakh votes, several Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency members and municipal councillors from various Telangana districts had joined the TRS.
After assessing its strength in the local bodies where it has the numbers, the party would take a decision on contesting the council seats. Where the party lacks the strength, local units would be free to decide on what to do in the polls, he pointed out.
It may be recalled that Andhra Pradesh Congess Committee president Keshav Rao had announced in Delhi on Saturday that the party had reached an understanding with TRS on the council polls and would leave two council seats from Karimnagar and Medak local authorities constituencies to the TRS. He said that TRS would support the Congress in the other local authorities constituencies.
The announcement was made after Keshav Rao, Chief Minster Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and AICC general secretary incharge of AP affairs Digvijay Singh had met Sonia Gandhi to finalise the alliances and list of candidates for the council elections.