Hyderabad, Oct 30th: Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao Friday announced that he would launch a "fast unto death" in November to achieve separate statehood for the Telangana region. The TRS politburo, which met, decided that Rao and other leaders along with thousands of party workers would launch the fast at Siddipet in Medak district. KCR, as Rao is popularly known by his initials, plans to take the movement for a separate state into a decisive stage by launching a "fast unto death" along with 100,000 people at Telangana Memorial in the last week of November.

The MP declared that thousands of people, including women, with petrol cans would be around him to foil any attempts by police to shift him to hospital. "I will not touch even a glass of water till a separate state of Telangana is formed," he said. KCR, who revived three decades old Telangana movement by floating TRS eight years ago, wants to tread the path of Potti Sreeramulu, who died in 1952 during a fast-unto-death in Chennai (then Madras) demanding a separate state for Telugu people.

In 1953, the state of Andhra was established with Kurnool as capital, carved out from the then Madras State. The Telangana region, which then existed as a separate state, was then merged with the Andhra State Nov 1, 1956, to form Andhra Pradesh with Hyderabad as the capital. The TRS politburo also decided to observe Nov 1 as "betrayal day". Telangana parties allege that the people of the region were betrayed by the merger with the erstwhile Andhra State despite the States Reorganization Commission not recommending it. Telangana, which comprises 10 districts including Hyderabad, was part of the erstwhile Hyderabad State.