Reports have it that K Chandrasekhar Rao is fighting a valiant battle to persuade the Centre to grant separate statehood for Telangana.
While his troops back home are gearing up to floor the government with the Telangana March on September 30, he has been sitting by the telephone in Delhi waiting for word on Telangana.
So too are his son K T Rama Rao and daughter K Kavitha, reportedly to participate in any important negotiations to which Father may be called.
Apparently much of the Pink Panther’s family, including his grandchildren, are in Delhi, 1,200 km from the Telangana March. With signals from the Centre not so propitious to a separate state, the question being asked among the pink ranks back home is whether KCR will be home for the March.
Preoccupied by confabulations with Vayalar Ravi and Ghulam Nabi Azad, KCR has not had much time to give attention to the March until Wednesday, when he issued -- by way of an SMS to reporters -- an uncharacteristically muted warning to the state government against preventive detention of marchers.
But then, sources in the TRS say, the Panther was lukewarm to the idea of the March anyway.
In the first place it was the idea of TJAC chairman Prof Kodandaram. Initially, KCR is said to have dissuaded his partymen from getting too enthusiastic about the March. This gave rise to speculation that there was a rift between TJAC and the TRS chief.
In fact, the presence of KCR’s entire family in Delhi has triggered whispers here that he is contemplating to even sacrifice the political identity of TRS if only the Congress high command would say a definite word on Telangana.
In the last 20 days, KCR has met several leaders including home minister Sushilkumar Shinde and several aides of Sonia Gandhi. However, a favourable response has not been forthcoming.
According to sources, the TRS chief is yet to decide on participating in the Telangana March and he wants to return from Delhi only after receiving some assurance from the Centre.
Sources said, however, that his son and daughter will be despatched to Hyderabad in the next two days to participate in the March.