After deciding to accord statehood to Telangana, the Congress high command now appears to have started making “friendly gestures” to TRS.
In order to avoid the possibility of splitting the T-vote in the ensuing general elections, the Congress is said to have decided not to ignore the pink party, which has all these days spearheaded the statehood movement, while preparing itself for the 2014 big fight.
The ruling party is said to be looking to the TRS either for merger or for possible alliance in the ensuing general polls.
AICC state affairs incharge Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday said, “TRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao has several occasions said if we declare statehood to Telangana, he would merge his party with the Congress. Now, we are awaiting his response.”
The AICC point man further said the Congress party would welcome the proposal of TRS becoming a part of the Congress.
“We are favourably inclined to discuss the same (proposal of merger) with Rao,” Singh said. However, he denied it as a quid pro quo deal for according statehood to Telangana.
Though the Congress high command for the past few days has maintained distance from the TRS during the T-discussions, it is more seen as a public posture to appease the Seemandhra politicos and people than a real political move.
“With his rabble-rousing statements against Seemandhra people, Chandrasekhar Rao has almost earned their wrath. Hence, we have maintained distance with Rao during the final talks on the issue of state bifurcation so as to complete the T-process smoothly. But, we never ignored him,” a senior Congress leader told Express.
Another reason for the AICC top brass to detach itself from Rao is that the Congress high command has not wanted to create an impression that it has taken the T-decision under pressure from the TRS leadership.
But now, as the T-state is being delivered, the Congress top brass has started striking up friendship with the TRS.