Hyderabad, April 24 (IANS): Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was re-elected unopposed as the president of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS).

His unanimous election was declared at TRS plenary here on Friday amid cheers by thousands of party workers.

Returning officer N. Narasimha Reddy, the home minister, announced that only one nomination was received for the post.

TRS leaders had filed six sets of nomination papers on behalf of KCR, as Rao is popularly known.

The 61-year-old was thus re-elected as the party chief for the eighth consecutive term, the first after he became chief minister of the newly created Telangana state in June last year.

KCR had floated TRS on April 27, 2001 to revive the movement for separate state. He has been heading the party since its inception.

He played a key role in the movement by launching indefinite fast in 2009, forcing the then United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to accept the demand for statehood to Telangana.

The process, however, was initiated in 2013 and Andhra Pradesh was formally bifurcated last year and Telangana took birth as 29th state.