Congress testing TRS waters on the background of Telengana bill

NEW DELHI: As the Congress-led UPA government prepares to deliver on its Telangana pledge before Lok Sabha elections, the party has sent out fresh feelers to K Chandrasekhar Rao of Telangana Rashtra Samithi ( TRS) regarding joining of forces. Rao has been approached through the local leadership for either a pact or a merger as he had indicated when the Centre announced plans for a separate Telangana state. The two parties are currently coordinating their actions on the floor of the assembly with regard to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2013.

There have been two meetings between the parties, including one of the Telangana MLAs of TRS and Congress on cooperation in the legislature as all the other parties have sought to disrupt business and not allow a discussion in the assembly. Any chances of an alliance had made no headway earlier with the Congress giving Rao the cold shoulder and the TRS leader talking tough on Telangana after the announcement of statehood.

Speaking to ET, Rao’s daughter Kavitha Kalvakunthla denied that there had been any overtures from the Congress but confirmed that there had been some “courtesy calls” at around the time of New Year’s Day.

“Right now the priority is statehood for Telangana,” she said. “There is a lot of uncertainty. First the Centre said it would be able to get the Bill passed in Parliament in December. Then they said January and now they are saying February. So we are not comfortable with the way things are happening. Our talks for a pact or a merger would take place only after the Bill is passed in a manner the people want it.”

She said neither her father nor her brother Rama Reddy were interested in talks before the February session of Parliament.

Congress officials, however, indicated that the party’s senior leaders have been deputed to ask the TRS chief to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The party is testing the waters with TRS as it is not sure Rao will stand by public statements supporting a merger with Congress once the separate Telangana state was carved out.

Over the last few months, Rao has said that he would make his plans known only after the draft Bill was passed by Parliament and the administrative process completed. His letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in December putting forth 10 objections to the draft Bill was seen as posturing by the Congress party. Congress is also trying to gauge the mood within the party on a merger or a pact. Party officials said senior leaders feel a merger would be better as there could be difficulties in seatsharing talks.