It is now clear that only two Telangana Congress MPs will join Telangana Rashtra Samiti. S Rajaiah, one of the three leaders whose names were doing the rounds, has backed out as he failed to get a clear assurance from TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao on getting a ticket for Warangal lok Sabha seat.
Two MPs — G Vivekanand and Manda Jagannadham — along with former Congress Working Committee member K Keshav Rao will join the TRS at a public meeting in Hyderabad on June 2.
“There is no question of leaving the Congress. I will continue to fight for Telangana by remaining in the Congress. Only the Congress party can give Telangana State,” he said.
Even as AICC spokesperson M Afzal said in New Delhi that the party High Command was talking to the MPs who had announced to quit the party, Keshav Rao said that continuing in the Congress would be like betraying the people of Telangana.
“Congress is not going to give Telangana State. It has turned into an anti-Telangana party,” Keshav Rao said.
Other Telangana leaders of the Congress were trying to put up a brave front that the desertions would not harm the party.
Minister Basavaraj Saraiah, who also hails from Warangal, said that any number of desertions were not going to affect the party as the High Command would announce formation of Telangana State before the 2014 elections.
Hyderabad will witness public meetings in support of Telangana on two consecutive days. After the TRS public meeting on June 2, the BJP will also organise ‘Telangana Aatma Gauravam’ (self-respect) meeting on June 3.
The Telangana Naagara Party of N Janardhan Reddy will be merged with the BJP in presence of BJP national president Rajnath Singh.
N Janardhan Reddy, former senior TDP leader and present Independent MlA from Nagarkurnool is expected to fight from Mahubnagar Parliament seat as a BJP candidate.