HYDERABAD: Alarmed over the possible alliance between the Telugu Desam Party
and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), several Congress
leaders are sending an
SOS to the high command to change its stance on Telangana or be prepared for an electoral rout in the region.
Highly-placed Congress sources told TOI that TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao has been told not to take any hasty decision on the issue of poll alliance and not to go either with TDP or the Prajarajyam Party. The leaders were of the view that it was still not too late for the Congress and TRS to forge an alliance as they did in 2004.
The Congress leaders from the state are urging KCR not to join hands either with TDP or PRP while convincing the high command to take a positive stance on Telangana. The leaders include Union urban development minister S Jaipal Reddy, PCC president D Srinivas, and V Hanumantha Rao, former chief minister N Janardhan Reddy, Chinta Mohan, K Harsha Kumar and Kishore Chandra Deo.
Known for their anti-YSR stance, these leaders are said to be convincing the Congress high command to ensure that TRS does not join hands with TDP. "The doors of the Congress are always open for TRS," PCC president D Srinivas said in Nizamabad on Tuesday, in a clear message to KCR to hold his horses.
Meanwhile, TRS sources claimed they are in direct touch with the Congress high command on the issue of forging an alliance. "Our only goal is Telangana. And our first choice as an electoral ally is the Congress. The moment it announces a pro-Telangana policy, we would have no hesitation in sailing with it. TDP is the last resort," claimed a TRS leader close to KCR.
But TRS claims notwithstanding, the Congress high command seems to be the least interested in taking the Telangana issue seriously. Till date, it has not said anything except parroting what Rajasekhara Reddy has been saying on the separate state issue. That it is not against Telangana and that a decision on it would be taken at an appropriate time.
In fact, AICC general secretary in charge of the state M Veerappa Moily had gone out of his way to state that the Congress would not take a stance on Telangana until the coming elections were over. The pro-Telangana leaders from the state have only AICC leaders like P J Kurien to convey to the high command their desperate message that the party is doomed in Telangana if it does not recognise the separate state demand.
With KCR having said that he would announce his decision after Sankranti, it remains to be seen whether the stubborn Congress high command would budge before that on the separate state issue.
KCR, meanwhile, is keeping up the pressure on the Congress to take a decision in favour of Telangana as soon as possible. "If they (Congress) don't, then the TRS-TDP alliance will ensure that the Congress does not get more than five seats of the 119 in Telangana," the TRS president said at Telangana Bhavan on Tuesday.
