Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao wasted no time in trying to instil confidence in people of Seemandhra living in Hyderabad and elsewhere in Telangana region and said that they were “our own”, immediately after the Upper House cleared the A.P. Reorganisation Bill on Thursday.
“They need not have any apprehensions, fears and misgivings and can live here happily and be part of rebuilding of a progressive Telangana State. They are our brothers and sisters and those who are born here are natural natives,” a beaming TRS chief told newsmen in New Delhi.
He appealed to the people in Seemandhra regions to leave behind the bad blood and difference of opinion developed in the recent period as the movement for statehood to Telangana gathered steam to reach the goal. “Let us flourish together as two modern States by cooperating each other”, he said.
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Expressing special gratitude to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao maintained that Telangana State would not have been a reality without her intervention and commitment.
He also thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Opposition BJP and other parties for their resolve to push through the Bill to fulfil the six-decade old dream of Telangana people.
The formation of Telangana State was not one’s victory and another’s defeat but it was only the fulfilment of aspirations of about four-crore Telangana peole for self-rule and self-respect, he stated. He gave the credit of statehood to the students and youth who sacrificed their lives for the cause and resolute commitment of all sections of people including employees and TRS rank and file in carrying on the struggle to its logical end.
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Recollecting the role of Telangana ideologue K. Jayashankar in supporting the movement in its nascent days, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao said the families of martyrs would be honoured appropriately.
The focus of TRS would be on rebuilding the new State as the formation of the State was achieved, Mr. Rao said evading a question about merger of his party with the Congress.
He stated that he would stay back in Delhi for two-three days more to meet and thank all those who support making Telangana a reality.