Hyderabad, Aug 6 (IANS): The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Saturday reacted strongly to union Home Minister P. Chidambaram's statement in parliament that political parties in Andhra Pradesh should arrive at a consensus on the demand for separate Telangana state.

TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao termed the statement as "useless" and reminded the central government that the constitution has given it the right to carve out new states.

"If the states can solve such problems on their own, there is no need for a central government or a union home minister," Rao told a meeting at Telangana Bhavan, the TRS headquarters here.

The meeting was organized to pay tributes to Telangana ideologue K. Jayashankar, who passed away recently.

KCR, as the TRS leader is popularly known, said the Telangana people knew how to achieve a separate state. "With indefinite strike (by government employees in Telangana) from Aug 17, we will show our might," he said.

KCR's son and party legislator K.T. Rama Rao also found fault with Chidambaram's statement, saying consensus is not possible on any issue.

The leaders of the ruling Congress party too criticized the union home minister. Senior leader and Rajya Sabha member V. Hanumantha Rao said consensus can never be arrived on the Telangana issue. Another senior leader K. Keshava Rao said he was disappointed with Chidambaram's remarks.

Replying to a call attention motion in Lok Sabha Friday, Chidambaram had stated that the solution to the problem of Telangana should come from people of Andhra Pradesh and had asked political parties of the state to arrive at a consensus.