Though Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K. Chandrasekhar Rao indicated that he was against merging the party with the Congress on Friday, at least seven or eight MLAs of the TRS are said to be backing the proposal. However, their opposition to the TRS supremo's thinking is not being aired openly. The MLAs feel that the TRS was “morally” bound to merge with the Congress because its earlier promise that if the Congress conceded the statehood demand, it would merge with the Congress. Also, they highlight that the purpose of TRS to achieve statehood was served, sources said. They feel that Mr. Rao might not object to merger if the Congress handed over the leadership in the region to him. This should be viewed in the context of Mr. Rao’s repeated assertions at a public meeting on Friday that the region needed a strong leadership to take it on the path of development. The sources said there was no justification for the Congress to concede statehood and retain leadership with itself which would only invite a conflict between the two parties. Therefore, the party was also mulling on this aspect.
If the Congress did not hand over leadership, how will the TRS counter the campaign of the Congress in elections that it created the State. This was the question agitating the minds of TRS leaders.
They are of the view that targeting the Congress leadership for failure to deliver the goods would be the ideal situation.
