Telangana: Will TRS join hands with Congress before Lok Sabha polls?

With the Congress running out of ideas for alliances, the party has now sent out strong feelers to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi. According to a report on The Economic Times, Congress is keen on following up on the indication that TRS leader K Chandrasekhar Rao had given when the Congress when the separation of Telangana state was announced. ET reports:

K S Chandrasekhar. AFP.

"The two parties are currently coordinating their actions on the floor of the assembly with regard to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2013. There have been two meetings between the parties, including one of the Telangana MLAs of TRS and Congress on cooperation in the legislature as all the other parties have sought to disrupt business and not allow a discussion in the assembly."

With the Congress's own legislators, including chief minister Kiran Reddy, disapproving of the party high command's decision to split Andhra Pradesh, the party will have to enlist the support of the TRS to make sure votes swing their way in Lok Sabha polls.

However, the path to a successful Lok Sabha election in Seemandhra and Telangana will be riddled with difficulties for the Congress. Firstly, voters from Seemandhra, most of who demanded a united Andhra will be hard pressed to vote for Congress. Then again, Rao himself had a series of objections to the draft Bill which enumerated the details of separating the two states. In fact, Rao had himself written to the PM demanding a revision.

One has to wait and watch if Congress's negotiation skills pay off and TRS decides to officially side with the Congress, especially when the BJP led by Narendra Modi has thrown its weight behind  Chandrababu Naidu's TDP in the twin states.