Meanwhile, Telugu mega star Chiranjeevi’s camp has dropped a strong hint about his impending launch into politics. The star’s close aide and brother-in-law Allu Arvind, who also manages his film affairs, told entertainment networks that they were shaping up a party and Chiranjeevi will be launched into active politics shortly.

With thousands of workers of the Congress and the TDP waiting in the wings to join Chiranjeevi, the news of resignation of the four TRS MPs got sidelined in Hyderabad, which is one of the 10 districts in the Telangana region.

TRS spokesperson V Prakash said 16 of the 26 TRS MLAs would be tendering their resignations to Speaker K R Suresh Reddy on Tuesday. “They will seek an adjournment motion to discuss and seek a resolution on separate Telangana, which is sure to be denied following which they will all resign,” Prakash said.

Though the TRS has 26 MLAs, 10 are dissidents who support the Congress and are unwilling to quit. The TRS, too, is hoping for an alliance with the Congress again to contest both the general and Assembly elections next year.

After setting a March 6 deadline for the UPA to begin the process of carving out a separate Telangana, the TRS’s campaign gained momentum on January 26 when several MLAs handed over their resignation letters to K Chandrasekhar Rao at the Telangana Bhavan after the flag-hoisting ceremony. This was followed by campaigns across the Telangana region by the TRS in support of a separate state.

On February 23, nine TRS MLAs were suspended for two days when they raised slogans in the Assembly after their notice for an adjournment motion to discuss the Telangana issue was disallowed by the Speaker. For the last one week, the TRS has been holding demonstrations or road shows at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi in support of their demand.

However, political observers say the political drama in the last two months, culminating in Monday’s resignations, has not invigorated the Telengana movement. In 2004, the TRS had formed an alliance with the Congress and contested the 2004 Assembly elections, winning 26 seats. The Congress held out a promise of a separate Telengana state while the TRS rode on fighting for separate statehood. While the issue remained in the limbo for four years, the TRS has stepped up its campaign again with both general and Assembly elections in 2009.

The history of TRS

Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) was formed in 2000 with the agenda to carve out a separate Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh, constituting Hyderabad, Adilabad, Karimnagar, Khammam, Mahaboobnagar, Medak, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Ranga Reddy and Warangal districts. Chandrashekhara Rao, a member of the Telugu Desam Party till 2000, formed the TRS with five Lok Sabha members.

• The party created a sensation by winning one third of Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTC) and one quarter of Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTC) in the Telangana region within sixty days of its formation.

• In the 2004 Assembly elections, the TRS formed an alliance with the Congress (I) and won 26 state Assembly seats. The party also won 5 Lok Sabha seats. It joined the Governments at both state and Central level.

• In September 2006, the party withdrew its support to the UPA Government, accusing the Congress of betraying the people of Telangana over the delivery of its electoral promise to create Telangana, which was also put in the Common Minimum Program (CMP).

• In January, 2008, the party set a March 6 deadline for the UPA to begin the process of carving out a separate Telangana.

• On March 3, four TRS MPs — K Chandrasekhara Rao (Karimnagar), B Vinod Kumar (Hanamkonda, Warangal district), Ravindra Naik (Warangal) and T Madhusudhan Reddy (Adilabad) — resigned from the Lok Sabha.