Devender Goud Quit TDP, starting party!

The Telugu Desam second in command, Mr T. Devender Goud, quit the party on Monday over its refusal to champion the cause of a separate Telangana state.

In his resignation letter, Mr Goud pointed out that the TD had performed well in the recent bypolls since it had announced that it was not against Telangana.

“But after the bypolls, some leaders in the party are again reiterating the united Andhra slogan, which is nothing but betraying the people of this region,” Mr Goud said.

He said the people of Telangana region have been exploited in every aspect by the other regions and also flayed the TD leadership for encouraging those who criticised him.

The Telangana protagonist, Devender Goud, will announce his new political outfit after a brainstorming session with Telangana intellectuals on June 28 in hyderabad.

The prospect of Mr Goud starting his own party is creating ripples in the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, which is espousing the cause of separate Telangana. The TRS ideologue, Prof K. Jayasankar, party adviser on irrigation matters Mr R. Vidyasagar Rao and some other intellectuals, who are backing TRS chief Mr K. Chandrasekhar Rao called on Mr Goud at his residence on Tuesday.

It is learnt that Mr Rao sent Prof Jayasankar as an emissary to have a co-ordination with Mr Goud’s party. But, Mr Goud bluntly rejected the proposal of a tie-up with the TRS. “We won’t sail with the TRS under any circumstances,” he said.

The TRS leadership apparently feels that as Mr Goud belongs to the backward community and his goal is the same as that of the TRS, there may be mass migrations from the party to Mr Goud’s outfit in the backdrop of the recent debacle in the recent bypolls.

Prof Jayasankar said the Telangana movement has reached a crucial stage. He called upon all pro-statehood forces to launch a unified agitation. He said that Telangana statehood would be a reality after 2009 elections.