Congress did not make me TPCC president: K Chandrasekhar Rao

Hyderabad: TRS president and Chief Minister-designate K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday said the humiliation that he and his party faced from Congress leaders led him to contest the 2014 elections, giving an inside view of what had transpired between the two parties after statehood.

Speaking with a select group of mediapersons at Telangana Bhavan after his unanimous election as leader of the TRS Legislature Party, he said when then Congress president Sonia Gandhi had agreed to give statehood for Telangana, he had asked her to appoint him as Telangana Pradesh Congress president so that he could work and fulfil the aspirations of the people. This happened in the context of his offer to merge the TRS with the Congress on giving statehood.

He explained that after his proposal Mrs Gandhi asked him to meet Mr Digvijaya Singh, then incharge of AP Congress affairs.

Mr Rao said Mr Singh just discarded the proposal. Once the TRS merges with the Congress, it will have no relevance, Mr Singh told him.

Mr Rao said, “I asked if it was Mr Singh’s opinion or that of the party. He told me it was the decision of the Congress. Then we decided to contest the 2014 polls and came to power.”

He said it was after this that Congress leaders got TRS leaders like Ms Vijayshanti and others to leave him and join the Congress.  He also indicated that several Congress MLAs who were declared elected on Tuesday were in touch with him.

Asked about the fate of former speaker Madhusudhan Chary and other senior leaders who lost the elections, he said inducting them into the Cabinet would scope for the criticism at this stage.

Stating that he had expected to win 90 to 106 seats, he said he could not reach the number due to mistakes committed by his own party leader.