It is clearly emerging now that the Congress wants to claim the entire credit for granting statehood for Telangana and ignore the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).
After taking a risky political gambit of dividing the state, despite the danger of facing a total rout in Seemandhra, the Congress central leadership has opted for carving out Telangana state and thus fulfilling the long-cherished dream of the people of Telangana.
Under such circumstances, the ruling party leadership feels that it alone should reap the electoral harvest in Telangana.
The strategy was indicated by the senior Telangana Congress leaders during a thanks-giving public meeting organised at Bodhan in Nizamabad district on Friday.
None of the speakers mentioned the TRS or its leaders during their addresses. It was clear that Congress is keen on grabbing the entire credit for formation of separate state.
Everybody knows that it was the TRS' struggle for the last 12 years that helped strengthen the statehood movement and forced other parties to take a favourable stand on Telangana.
However, the ruling party is not willing to concede the ground at this stage and it wants the TRS to merge with it.
Addressing the public meeting, the first in a series of ‘Telangana Jaitra yatra’, the state Panchayati Raj Minister K. Jana Reddy blew the poll bugle, asking the people to ensure Congress wins 90 Assembly seats out of 119 seats in Telangana region.
The former Minister and MLC Shabbir Ali asserted that future Telangana Chief Minister will be decided by Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
On its part, the TRS is also playing a game of hide and seek, sending contradictory signals on the issue of merging with the Congress.
It is said that the party is trying to increase its bargaining power and raise the stakes.
The TRS Chief K Chandrasekhar Rao wants the merger to be done entirely on his own terms. It is said that Sonia Gandhi has asked the party veteran and Union Minister S Jaipal Reddy to negotiate terms with KCR.
However, during the back channel talks, KCR is believed to have insisted that he or his nominee must be made the Chief Minister of the new Telangana state, a demand not acceptable to the Congress. Besides, he has also put several demands on the table including good positions and posts for his son K T Rama Rao, daughter K Kavitha and other senior TRS leaders after the merger.
