TRS ready to merge with Congress in exchange for statehood

With time running out for the Congress in Andhra Pradesh, it's contemplating a series of steps to arrest the drift in the state before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The multi-pronged strategy includes revamp of the state Congress, a possible merger of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) with the party and buying peace with YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, who is believed to have eaten into the Congress' support base in Seemandhra (Andhra and Rayalaseema regions).

The Telangana statehood demand is currently the biggest headache for the Congress, with pro-Telangana groups gearing up to lay siege to Hyderabad on September 30.

But hope, and an opportunity, has come in the form of signals from the TRS that it is ready to sacrifice its political identity in exchange for statehood.

TRS president K. Chandrasekhara Rao, who has been camping in New Delhi for the last 16 days, is understood to have put forth a proposal that he is willing to merge his party with the Congress if the Centre agrees to make Telangana a separate state within a specific time-frame.

Rao is understood to have discussed the proposal with AICC incharge of Andhra Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad and party observer Vayalar Ravi.

He is expected to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi soon to discuss the prospects of merger.

Though the TRS leaders are reluctant to publicly accept it just yet, they concede in private that there's indeed such a proposal. "We are ready for any sacrifice provided we get the Telangana state," TRS legislature party leader E. Rajender said.

Last Monday, Sonia had a meeting with top party leaders, including Azad, Ravi, Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Defence Minister A.K. Antony and her political secretary Ahmed Patel in the wake of the feelers from the TRS.

Sources said the home ministry may call an all-party meeting after September 30 to kickstart the process of granting the statehood demand.

The Congress is under tremendous pressure from its own leaders from Telangana to take an early decision on statehood if it has to survive in the next elections.

"While the YSR Congress Party is all set to sweep the polls in Seemandhra, the battlefield in Telangana is wide open. If the Centre concedes the statehood demand and the TRS merges with the Congress, it will be advantageous for us in the region," a party MP said.

The impending revival of the statehood agitation has further pushed the Congress to a corner. Amid fears that the Telangana march on September 30 may turn violent, governor ESL Narasimhan on Thursday briefed Sonia on the latest political situation and met Shinde on Friday.