TRS Party

Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is a regional separatist political party in the Southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi's main aim is to separate Telangana region from Andhra Pradesh and to regain regional autonomy as it existed before the formation of Andhra Pradesh State in 1956. K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), the founder and president of Telangana Rashtra Samithi, was a member of the Telugu Desam Party until he quit the party due to differences with Nara Chandrababu Naidu and formed the TRS in 2001 at Hyderabad. He quit the Membership of AP Legislative Assembly and the post of Deputy Speaker of AP Legislature while floating the Party. The party initially won one third of Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTC) and one quarter of Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTC) in Siddipet within sixty days of the formation of the party

In the 2004 assembly elections, the TRS formed an alliance with Congress (I) and won 26 state assembly seats. The party also won 5 parliament seats at the national level. It joined the governments at both state and central level. In September 2006 the party withdrew support for the central government on the grounds of indecision by the government over the delivery of its electoral promise to create Telangana. On Sept 4th 2011, Wikileaks revealed some sensational cables related to the then resignation of the TRS members for the formation of a separate state. The actual grounds on which they have resigned is due to life-threat to the TRS party members from the Maoists of the Telangana region. The question that arises is that, how can a party with an adhering alliance with the Indian National Congress contest in elections and then break the bonding within a short span of 6 months? Despite being offered several Minister posts to the TRS party members.

The party repeatedly assured the people of Telangana that the formation of the new state was on the cards and could happen 'any moment.' When the Central government failed to deliver Telangana, the party withdrew support from the government.^[3] On 13 September 2006, Rao triggered a by-electionin his Lok Sabha constituency of Karimnagar, claiming provocation from one of the Congress MLA. He won the subsequent by-election with a strong majority.

All TRS MLAs and MPs resigned their positions in April 2008 when the Central government did not meet their demand for a separate state in its latest budget session for the 5 year term. The by-election was held on May 29, 2008.^[4] In the by-elections, 2008, TRS won 7 out of the 16 assembly segments and 2 out of the 4 loksabha segments, a significant defeat for the party. TRS Chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao offered to resign after he lost a number of seats in by-elections but was convinced to remain in office.

TRS and the "Grand Alliance"

On January 31, 2009, it was announced that TRS officially joined the "Grand Alliance" headed by Telugu Desam Party and including the Third Front and various left parties, in upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. At the same time, it was announced that the Talli Telangana, led by actress Vijayshanti, had merged into the TRS.^[ However, after the elections in Andhra Pradesh were completed, but before the counting of votes, TRS switched allegiance to the NDA, with Rao proclaiming that his party had been stabbed in the back by Congress after giving them oxygen in the 2004 elections. TRS lost 16 of its 26 seats in the Assembly, falling to fourth place with less than 4% of the statewide Assembly vote; and lost three of its five seats in the Lok Sabha, dropping to 6.14% of the LS vote.

On June 19, 2009, Mr.Rao submitted his resignation to the party General Secretary Mr.Sirikonda MadhuSudhana Chary and was away from party for a short period of time after personal attacks made against him by dissident TRS leaders in wake of the party's electoral defeat.^[7]

Results[edit]

Year	Election	Seats Won	Seats Contested	Forfeited Deposits
2004	Assembly	26	54	17
2004	Parliament	5	22	17
2008	Assembly (Bye)	7	16	2
2008	Parliament (Bye)	2	4	0
2009	Assembly	10	45	13[11]
2009	Parliament	2	9	1 [12]
2010	Assembly (Bye)	11	11	0
2011	Assembly (Bye)	1	1	0
2012	Assembly (Bye)	4	5	0
2012	Assembly (Bye)	1	1	0