Even as the executive committee of Telangana Rashtra Samiti is scheduled to meet on Saturday afternoon to discuss the resignation of K Chandrasekhara Rao as party president, the TRS suffered another blow deepening the crisis. as actress-turned-politician and member of Parliament Vijayshanti has also resigned as the secretary general of TRS in an expression of solidarity with the TRS chief.
Vijayshanti, who after merging her Talli Telangana party in TRS earlier this year, emerged as second most important figure in the party, also quit as the head of the strategy committee of the party. Vijayshanti announced her resignation on Saturday morning even as the loyalists were trying to pressurize KCR to withdraw his resignation. But since he sent his three page resignation letter to the executive committee last evening, KCR has become inaccessible to the party men.
In fact when a senior leader N Narasimha Reddy contacted him over phone and requested him to reconsider his move, Rao abruptly disconnected the phone.
Speculations also rife in political circles that Chandrasekhara Rao might resign from the Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha seat, which he won in the 2009 polls. Apart from facing a revolt with in the party, Rao was also facing the wrath of section of voters for not paying his attention to the constituency since the elections.
A large number of TRS workers have gathered at the party headquarters Telangana Bhavan where confusion is prevailing. Several senior party leaders including G Vijayrama Rao, E Rajinder, T Harish Rao and others have indicated that the executive will reject the resignation and urge upon Rao to continue to lead the party.
A large number of workers were holding a sit in demonstration at the office shouting slogans against Rao's resignation. Meanwhile the strike called by TRS in Karimnagar district against Rao's resignation turned violent in Siddipet this morning. Angry party workers attacked the hotels owned by Andhra region people for not shutting down the business. The Police has tightened the security after the incident.
Rao in his resignation letter targeted the dissidents alleging that they were hand in glove with the Congress party to destroy TRS and undermine the movement for Telangana. Rao said he was resigning in pain because of the attacks on him and his family by the dissidents during last one month. Interestingly some of the rebels of the TRS have also predicted that Rao will withdraw his resignation. Mandadi Satyanarayana said, "this is all a drama to earn sympathy and repair the damage to his reputation", he said.