The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has written history by assuming the reins of power in the new State with a handsome majority.
The victory is clearly the voters’ compliment to the party that achieved statehood to Telangana, a long-cherished dream of four crore people which the TRS founder president, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, stoked in 2001 by launching an outfit. The victory is also attributed to people’s desire for a change at the helm which was influenced by Mr. Rao’s grandiose plans to develop the otherwise neglected region. The party’s win in 63 out of 119 Assembly constituencies showed that the decision of Mr. Rao to go alone in the elections was not misplaced. The TRS won just 10 Assembly and two Lok Sabha seats in 2009 elections, but its tally steadily rose over the years with the influx of MLAs and MPs from other parties.
It made a modest beginning on the plank of separate Telangana in April 2001 when Mr. Rao resigned from Telugu Desam and launched his own party from ‘Jaladrushyam’ premises on the banks of Hussainsagar lake. The structure was pulled down by the TDP government then as part of a project to develop the lake.
Mr. Rao’s popularity soared after he addressed a massive public meeting in Karimnagar soon after the formation of the party. The TRS followed up the success winning 84 of the 443 Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTC) and claiming the chairmanship of Nizamabad and Karimnagar Zilla Parishads in May–June that year. The ruling TDP and the Opposition Congress sat up and took notice as the baby party made inroads.
The TRS allied with the Congress in 2004 general elections, contesting in 56 Assembly and six Lok Sabha constituencies. The party won 26 Assembly and five Lok Sabha seats and joined the Congress governments both at the Centre and the State. The six Ministers of the TRS were pulled out of the State government in 2005, but Mr. Rao and his colleague A. Narendra continued in the UPA government at the Centre for one more year.
The party’s size was further reduced in 2009 elections when it partnered TDP. However, the graph of the TRS was on the upswing ever since Mr. Rao went on an indefinite hunger strike in late 2009.
