The Hindu : TRS spectre haunts Congress groups

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 18, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

TRS spectre haunts Congress groups

By W. Chandrakanth

HYDERABAD, FEB. 17. Even as `talks about talks' with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and the Left continue to make rounds in the Congress, it is giving rise to serious misunderstandings within the party. No group seems to be happy with the decision; not even those who projected a larger than life image of the TRS all along.

The decision of the All India Congress Committee to confine the initial rounds of talks to New Delhi keeping out the APCC has led to heartburn in the party. Initially, all leaders welcomed the move. But, as the threat of losing seats due to adjustments looms larger, some of the staunch TRS alliance protagonists from the region are getting jittery.

Till the other day the same leaders were hailing the TRS president, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, as new messiah and offered to keep out of politics in the larger interests of the region. A prominent leader of the Congress Forum for Telangana (CFT) from Nalgonda offered to forsake everything for the cause. The same leader is chanting the `touch-me-not' mantra now. According to another senior leader, no member of the dissolved Assembly was interested in it. There was no need to go the extra mile to accommodate the TRS.

However, it appears inevitable that the APCC might have to drop at least 30 members of the dissolved Assembly this time. Of these, at least half a dozen or more would be from the Telangana. Because, the PCC president, D. Srinivas, asserted "winnability will be the only criterion."

Seniors like former PCC president, M.Satyanarayana Rao, opposed flushing out blood in the name of surveys. Any move to sideline senior workers would spell doom for the party. Also, replacement of winners of the 1999 elections would demoralise the party cadre, he said.

The Telangana Regional Congress Coordination Committee and the Pradesh Election Committee constituted by the AICC have virtually become irrelevant with the AICC taking over talks with the TRS. Some senior leaders of Telangana are also miffed at being ignored. They felt their expertise and experience were not being used by the party at this crucial juncture. Leaders like P.Shiv Shankar, G.Venkata Swamy and Satyanarayana Rao could contribute significantly to finalising the constituencies without hitch.

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