TRS chief elected legislature party leader

Hyderabad, May 17 (IANS) The newly-elected legislators of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Saturday unanimously elected K. Chandrasekhara Rao as its leader.

At a joint meeting of the party's state legislators and MPs, the party chief was elected as the leader. Rao will thus become the first chief minister of Telangana, which is set to become 29th state in the country June 2.

TRS general secretary K. Keshava Rao told reporters that the date for the swearing in will be decided after the lifting of the president's rule and the constitution of the new assembly.

Andhra Pradesh, which is currently under president's rule, will be formally split into two states on June 2.

Keshava Rao said one of the legislators Rajaiah proposed Chandrasekhara Rao's name and others supported it. The legislators lauded the role played by the party chief in the movement for separate statehood to Telangana and felt that he should lead the new state.

The TRS has bagged 63 seats in 119-member assembly. It also won 11 out of 17 Lok Sabha seats.

The TRS leaders will meet Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan Sunday to convey to him the resolution passed by the legislature party electing Chandrasekhara Rao as its leader.

A separate resolution passed by the newly-elected MPs authorized the party president to name their leader.

Chandrasekhara Rao, during his an hour long speech at the meeting, advised the legislators to dedicate themselves for development. He stressed the need for simplicity, honesty and inclusiveness above caste and creed.

Another TRS leader E. Rajender said welfare would be the first priority of the TRS government. He said since 80 percent people live in rural areas, the government would focus on agriculture sector. He said the TRS would fulfill all poll promises including waiver of crop loans.