3 Congress MPs join TRS over separate Telangana state

HYDERABAD: Three senior Congress leaders from Andhra Pradesh have announced plans to quit and join the rival Telangana Rashtra Samithi ( TRS) agitating for a separate Telangana state, dealing a blow to the party's prospects in one of its strongholds and chipping away at its strength at the Centre.

The three leaders-an invitee to the Congress Working Committee Keshav Rao and two Lok Sabha MPs M Jagannatham and Gaddam Vivekanand-are expected to formally join TRS at a rally in Hyderabad on June 2.

The decision of the two Lok Sabha MPs will further deplete the ranks of the minority Congress in the Lok Sabha and once again put the statehood issue, which it has trying to sweep under the carpet, on the centre stage.

The crisis holds ominous portends for the Congress' electoral prospects in Andhra Pradesh. The state had played a major role in the Congress' return to power in 2009 by contributing 33 Lok Sabha MPs to the party's kitty. The Telangana issue could complicate matters for the Congress that already faces anti-incumbency and a strong threat from the YSR Congress, a party founded by Jagan Mohan Reddy.

"We have lost trust in Congress and don't have any hopes of the party making an announcement on carving out a separate state by Friday," Jagannatham told reporters after a closed door meeting with the TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao at Vivekanand's residence.

"We don't want to continue in a party that has betrayed the people of the Telangana region," he added.

Three MPs from the region, including S Rajaiah from Warangal, had set Friday as deadline for the Congress high command to decide on the demand for the formation of a new state. Welcoming the Congress MPs into his party, TRS president Rao said the latest development will further strengthen the movement for Telangana.

Congress MPs from Telanagana accuse the Centre of following what they call a "one-step-forward-two-backward" approach when it comes to addressing their demand for a separate state. The Centre's flip-flop over the issue began in December 2009 when the then home minister P Chidambaram promised the formation of a new state only to go back on it after a few days. The issue was later pushed before a committee headed by Justice BN Srikrishna.

This panel did not come up with a tangible solution, instead presenting six options.

These included the creation of a Telangana Regional Council within Andhra, bifurcation of the state into Telangana with Hyderabad as the capital and Seemandhra with a new capital; bifurcation of the state into Seemandhra and Telangana after making Hyderabad a Union Territory; bifurcation of the state into Seemandhra and Telangana with enlarged Hyderabad metropolis as a Union Territory; bifurcation of the state into Rayala Telangana and Coastal Andhra; and maintenance of status quo.