The mercurial Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K Chandrasekhar Rao is keeping the Congress on tenterhooks.
The latest indications are that he is even ready to join hands with the BJP and aspire to become the convener of NDA to teach a lesson to the ruling party if it attempts to dilute the Telangana state.
KCR has been telling his close aides that he is prepared to go with the NDA if the Congress tinkers with the status of Hyderabad or delays the formation of Telangana state.
"Nothing short of Telangana state with ten districts and full-fledged control over Hyderabad is acceptable to us. If there is any dilution in this, we do not mind crossing over to the NDA," the TRS chief is believed to have said.
He has also ruled out his party's merger with the Congress, despite his earlier promise in this regard, and asked his party cadre to be prepared for a solo fight in the 2014 elections.
KCR has threatened the Congress that if he joins NDA, then he would be playing a key role at the Centre in the likely event of NDA forming the next government.
The political observers say that all this is a mere posturing as KCR wants to extract his pound of flesh and increase his bargaining power.
He is making belligerant statements ahead of the preparation of the Telangana bill so that he would get a fair deal from the UPA leadership.
Now, one thing is very clear. KCR has no plans to allow the Congress to reap the entire benefits in the new Telangana. Surely, he wants a bigger share of the cake.
According to him, the Congress had no option but concede Telangana after a 1,000 people committed suicide and he put the blame squarely on Congress itself for it.
It is said that KCR is bargaining very hard with the Congress central leadership for a fabulous deal for him and his family members.
