TRS boss quits, as nephew meets CM

After remaining incommunicado for three days following the massive drubbing his party, Telengana Rastra Samithi (TRS) received in the just-concluded bypolls, TRS Chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao quit his post, owning moral responsibility for the loss.

The TRS, which had won five Lok Sabha and 26 Assembly seats in the 2004 general elections, is reduced to a rump now with just two Lok Sabha and seven Assembly seats. KCR, as he is known, had several rounds of meetings with close advisors and some top intellectuals of Telengana region before taking the call to resign. He has asked the party executive committee to accept his resignation.

KCR had reportedly offered to resign immediately after the results but was persuaded to stay back by other leaders pending an analysis of the poll results. Apparently after a detailed analysis of poll results, party seniors could not find a convincing bailout package for their leader. So he had no choice but to resign.

The other factor is the long meeting his nephew T. Harish Rao had with Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, prompting speculation that Congress was working towards installing the junior Rao as TRS leader to pave way for a mutual beneficial partnership.