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TRS to go it alone in polls, has 69 names on first list

Telengana Rashtra Samithi releases manifesto, promises 12 per cent reservation for Muslims.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K Chandrasekhar Rao put the final stamp of rejection for any sort of alliance with the Congress by releasing the party’s first list of candidates as well as the party manifesto for the April 30 simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state assembly in Telangana.

The Congress, which was hopeful of a last minute understanding with the regional party after having kept its promise of carving out a separate Telangana state, is now left to fend for itself in the new state, which will come into existence on June 2.

The ruling party’s situation in the residuary state of Seemandhra is anything but pathetic given the strong anti-Congress sentiment sweeping the region following the bifurcation of the state, and it was hoping to ride piggy-back on the TRS popularity in Telangana.

KCR, as the TRS leader is known popularly released the first list of 69 candidates at a Press conference late on Friday evening. “The TRS will go it alone in the elections and we will come to power in the new state of Telangana,” he said.

KCR, widely considered as the architect of the Telangana statehood movement, has thus sent across a message loud and clear that he is not interested in a tie-up and that he is keen on claiming the entire credit for achieving the statehood goal.

KCR and his family members figure in the first list of candidates for the state assembly. The TRS chief himself will contest from Gajwel in Medak district while his son K Tarakarama Rao and nephew T Harish Rao will seek re-election from Sircilla and Siddipet respectively. The TRS president will be contesting the assembly elections after a gap of 10 years.

Telangana has 119 assembly and 17 Lok Sabha seats. The candidates for the remaining assembly seats and LS constituencies would be announced in a few days, KCR said.

TRS sources said KCR is also likely to contest the Lok Sabha poll while his daughter K Kavitha is expected to be fielded from Medak LS seat. He was earlier elected to Lok Sabha from Karimnagar in 2004 and from Mahaboobnagar in 2009.

The TRS chief has retained all the 17 sitting legislators, and rewarded defectors from other parties with tickets. The party has fielded K Sankaramma, mother of Telangana martyr K Srikant Chary, a 24-year-old student who immolated himself during the Telangana agitation on December 4, 2009. She will contest from Huzurnagar constituency in Nalgonda district. The self-immolation of her son, a physiotherapy student in Hyderabad, was a major turning point in the Telangana agitation. “There is no question of having alliance with any party. We will go it alone,” the TRS chief asserted.

Shakeel Ahmed from Bodhan is the lone Muslim candidate in the first list. Of the 69 candidates, 16 belong to backward classes, 14 scheduled castes and six scheduled tribes.

The TRS president also released the poll manifesto, promising, among other things, creation of 24 districts in Telangana against the present 10, free education from KG to PG in residential institutions and gurukul schools, 12 per cent reservation for Muslims and budgetary provision of Rs500 billion over five years for the uplift of weaker sections. — news@khaleejtimes.com