Now, he is Telangana's hero and the Centre is paying him some serious attention KCR WAS AFRAID TO EVEN CONTEST THE HYDERABAD CIVIC POLLS RECENTLY, AWARE THAT HIS PARTY HAD BARELY ANY SUPPORT BASE

IN just two weeks, Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhara Rao, popularly known as KCR, has transformed from a marginalised leader fighting for his survival into Telangana's hero, someone who is now on the centre stage of national politics. He brought theregiontoahaltwithhis11-day`deeksha'-fast-unto-death -- and forced the Centre to say yes to a separate state on Wednesday night. The next day ,there were victory processions in his name in Telangana, his photos and posters were garlanded and people of the region declared he was their god.

But before November 29, KCR, 55, had his back to the wall. His party was in disarray, had lost its ground in Telangana and his leadership was being questioned. The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president was written off by his own party members and rebels were going in for the kill. Even key advocates of the Telangana cause dismissed him as an opportunist who jumped from one party or affiliation to another.

So, when he threatened to undertake a fast unto-death about a month ago he drew sneers even from his own party. He was just bluffing as was his wont, they surmised, and no one took him seriously.

Last month, he was even afraid to contest the civic elections in Hyderabad, being well aware that his party had barely any support base left to speak of.

Spearheading the Telangana movement since 2001, the TRS got a drubbing in its bastioninMay2009.IntheAssemblypolls,people of the region made it clear that the separate state sentiment had faded -- the party managed to win only 10 seats out of the 45 it contested. It was the same story in the Lok Sabha elections. KCR just about scraped through from Mahbubnagar, with former actress Vijayashanti -- and one of his bête noire -- being the only other TRS candidate to bag a seat. However, KCR is known to be a survivor. After all he jumped ship from the Congress and TDP and floated the TRS, successfully positioning himself as the champion of the 50-year- old struggle for Telangana.

The jury is still out on whether he really intended to take the fight to the finish or he simply got himself caught in a situation from which he could not wriggle out -- many knowing looks were exchanged when he broke his fast briefly two days after he started it, saying that police forced him to drink juice.

But unnerved by the reaction from students who called him a traitor, KCR decided to continuethefast.AndonthenightofDecember9 he became the architect of Telangana and thereby its biggest leader ever. Today, he is being hailed as a hero and idolized by the very people who rejected him a few months ago.

"It is the culmination of a prolonged exercise that started almost 50 years ago. But KCR provided the trigger to it, his fast was the instrument. It was due to his fast-unto-death that the separate state sentiment made a resurgence with such force that there was a spontaneous and massive upsurge. KCR also proved that the sentiment is deep and widespread though sometimes it is not visible," says Telangana ideologue T Jaishankar. KCR started his career as a Congress student leader in Karimnagar and later in Siddipet in Medak district. At that time he also be came very close to Sanjay Gandhi but that did not win him a party ticket. He joined the TDP in 1985 and was elected MLA from Siddipet, a seat he held for four consecutive terms. He was a minister in the TDP government in 1987-88 andthenagainin1997to1999andthendeputy speakerintheAssemblyfrom1999to2001.

Unhappy at being sidelined, KCR quit the TDP in 2001 and founded the TRS. He formed an alliance with the Congress for the 2004 elections and his party bagged 26 Assembly seats and five Lok Sabha constituencies. He was made Union minister of state for shipping in 2004 and was Union minister for labour and employmentfrom2004to2006.

However, he resigned along with four other TRS MPs, alleging that the Congress reneged on its promise of initiating the process to create Telangana state. At the same time, in April 2008, 14 MLAs also quit. The remaining 12 MLAs formed a rebel group and decided to support the Congress. KCR's troubles started from there as the party became riddled with fac tions, including one led by his nephew Harish Rao, trying to take control.

In the 2009 elections, KCR joined the TDP's Grand Alliance after the party made a U-turn on Telangana and decided to support the movement. However, the TRS bit the dust. His image took another beating when ahead of the election results he ditched the Grand Alliance and hitched with the BJP.