Thursday, September 1 2005 16:34 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief and Union Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao said today (Sept 1, 2005) that the time has come for him to decide whether to continue in United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition or not.

Talking to reporters after a meeting with UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Rao said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has been adopting an anti-Telangana attitude and it was very difficult for him to accept his views.

"That's why we feel that the time has come for us either to form Telangana or start an agitation by leaving UPA," he said. Rao, whose party has five members in the Lok Sabha and has been spearheading a campaign for a separate Telangana state, has been apparently irked by Reddy's speech at the NIC meeting yesterday in which he had opposed creation of smaller states.

In a memorandum submitted to Gandhi, Rao urged her to instruct the State Government to lift the ban imposed on Maoists. Asked whether he was disappointed that no significant progress was made towards the formation of Telangana, he said: "Hope and despair is not the issue. We have to take a diplomatic decision. Some people agree and some don't. We have to take those not agreeing to it along with us. By evolving consensus we have to move forward."