New Delhi: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Sunday appealed to the people not to become slaves of Delhi parties and urged them to emulate Tamil Nadu, which has its own parties, for their self-respect.
"You have to decide whether decisions relating to Telangana should be taken by us here or should we become slaves of Delhi parties," the CM said, in an obvious reference to BJP and Congress. Rao, who is popularly known as KCR, was addressing a massive rally titled 'Pragathi Nivedana Sabha', organised by his party, Telangana Rashtra Samithi, on the outskirts of Hyderabad when he made the statement.
The CM's call came amid speculations that he would announce the dissolution of the Legislative Assembly and sound the bugle for early polls, following a cabinet meeting earlier in the day. It is being speculated that the state government is considering early polls on the presumption that there is a positive mood among people on the Chandrashekar-led government.
Stating that the ministers and party leaders have authorized him to take a decision which is in the best interest of the state, KCR asserted, "In the coming days you will hear that decision."
While promising to take Telangana forward on the path of development, KCR advised people to emulate Tamil Nadu, which has its own parties, and not allow Delhi to take control over Telangana's decisions.
KCR also announced the formation of a manifesto committee, headed by party General Secretary K Keshava Rao, to chalk out the party's plans if voted to power again.
Earlier in the day, when asked whether early dissolution of the assembly came up for discussion at the cabinet meeting, Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari said, "Shortly, another cabinet meeting will be held where more decisions are to be taken."
State IT Minister and Rao's son K T Rama Rao, however, hinted at the possibility of early elections in Telangana. He said the TRS believes the time has come to go back and seek a mandate. "If at all the elections are held early it will help the TRS. We will win both the state as well as Lok Sabha polls convincingly. Holding early elections will give us ample room to find potential partners for 2019 polls," Rao said.
"We believe the time has come to go back to the people and seek a mandate. We have 16 seats in Lok Sabha and we are confident we will win all, including Secunderabad. We want to play a decisive role in Delhi," the minister said.
Reiterating his confidence in the party's ability to emerge victorious, Rao said, "We are ready to go for early elections if they happen. We are confident of a win. It is Congress which is scared. They are saying they will go to court if early elections are announced."