Delhi is Telangana hive, hectic talks on; Congress, TRS play cat and mouse

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Congress, TRS play cat and mouse
 
Hyderabad: A cat-and-mouse game is on between the Congress and the TRS over a party merger before the former concedes to the demand of a Telangana state. Sources said Congress MPs in Delhi have been telling the high command that they can convince the TRS leadership to agree to a merger with the Congress, while the TRS leadership is vehemently opposed to the merger plan. 
 
Sources in the TRS are convinced that there is no additional benefit for the TRS if they merge with the Congress, except that the combined party will sweep the next polls in the event of the formation of a T-state. TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who a year ago was open to a merger given a public announcement on Telangana, has now decided to reject the idea in the hope of having a bigger role to play at the Centre in the event of a hung Lok Sabha after the 2014 polls.
 
Congress leaders K. Jana Reddy and Mr Narasimha believe a merger won’t be needed if Telangana is granted because the Congress would sweep the polls as a result of fulfilling a long-pending promise. 
 
TRS leader T. Harish Rao said a T-state would be a result of their hard work over the last 12 years.
 
Digvijay meets Sonia, Rahul
 
Hyderabad: In a significant development on the Telangana statehood front, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh on Saturday met both Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi to submit his inputs on the issue. 
 
It is reliably learnt that the Congress core committee will meet next week and make a final announcement on the much awaited decision. Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana and Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha will be invited to New Delhi for consultations before the Core Committee makes its announcement on the issue. 
 
Sources said the Congress high command will direct the state leadership to move a resolution seeking the formation of Telangana in the State Assembly first. The high command will also express its opinion favouring the formation of a Telangana state. The source pointed out that before the Centre initiates action on this, it felt a resolution in the AP Assembly is necessary. The question is whether the Congress will issue a directive to its MLAs to support the motion moved by it or leave it to their own choice. 
 
There are doubts on whether the Chief Minister will support it or oppose. Once the Assembly passes the resolution, depending upon the ‘result’ the high command will take a decision.