TDP MLA Venugopalachary joins TRS

Seeking to mount pressure on Congress, TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday said Telangana people should not believe the ruling party until it moves the bill for formation of separate state and passes it.

Telangana should not blindly believe Congress. We have to continue our struggle. We can stop our struggle, not if Congress Working Committee passes a resolution or even if a bill is introduced in the Parliament, but only when the bill is passed, he said, addressing a gathering in Hyderabad.

He alleged that Congress has been deceiving the Telangana people since 1956 when Andhra Pradesh was formed.

It was Congress which was responsible for the deaths of 400 Telangana youths....Congress went back on its word to form separate state in 2009 when I held indefinite fast, he said.

He cited the example of Women's Reservation Bill as a reason for not believing Congress. Women's bill was passed in Rajya Sabha and not in Lok Sabha. So, they may introduce Telangana bill and say that, 'we wanted to do it, but BJP did not let us do'. That way, they may try to take Telangana people for a ride. Because, the history of Congress has been like that, he said.

The TRS supremo's comments came in the wake of Congress core group deciding on Friday to convene CWC meeting to take final call on Telangana issue.

Amid the talk that TRS would merge with Congress if separate Telangana is formed, Rao asserted that his party would continue to play active role in achieving Telangana and its reconstruction."I am getting SMSes that if we believe these Telangana slaves (Telangana leaders in other parties), they will hand over Telangana to non-Telangana leaders. So, TRS should be active and be alert to protect Telangana students, farmers and others," he said.

During the event, former TDP leader and MLA S Venugopalachary joined the TRS.