Telangana bodes ill for Congress as TRS rules out alliance as well

The creation of Telangana could spell the nemesis of Congress in the whole of the undivided Andhra Pradesh as the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) that spearheaded the movement for separate Telangana state reneged on its offer of merger, and now alliance, with the Congress party, both in the state and at the centre.

The TRS move to retract its offer of alliance comes as a severe setback to Congress in Telangana – both for the Lok Sabha and the assembly elections.

''There will not be any electoral alliance with Congress. Let's see from tomorrow if TRS MLAs will join the Congress or the reverse will happen,'' Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhar Rao said addressing his party workers at the Telangana Bhavan in Hyderabad.

Rao's remarks come in the backdrop of reports that two former women ministers were all set to quit the Congress and join the TRS in a day or two.

Congress, which takes credit for the Congress-led UPA government's success in the creation of the new state by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh, has been seeking at least an alliance after TRS ruled out a merger with it.

For the Congress, 17 Lok Sabha seats and 117 assembly seats are at stake in Telangana.

Rao refuted allegations earlier made by AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh that TRS has betrayed the congress following Rao's refusal to merge with the Congress after the creation of Telangana.

Chandrasekhar Rao attacked the Congress, asking, ''They say KCR betrayed them but what was the betrayal.''

Rao said they had earlier proposed a merger of TRS with Congress under different circumstances ant those circumstance no longer exist. ''But now, people are against our merger and hence we are going by their wish,'' he added.

He recalled that many of those who committed suicide for a separate state had named the Congress for their act. ''Now the Congress started a drama saying it will give tickets to kin of those victims in the coming elections,'' he said.