DS asks TRS to merge with Cong

With the Congress party hinting at an early decision on Telangana, the leaders from both the regions have become active. While the former PCC president D Srinivas appealed to TRS to merge with Congress since it has initiated the process for formation of Telangana state, Rajya Sabha MP Palvai Govardhan Reddy met Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde.

Meanwhile,Samaikyandhra leaders launched protests in Kadapa, Anantapur and Hyderabad. Talking to the media on Thursday, Srinivas said that Congress and TRS merger should be the logical destination for the Telangana party. Asked if he was mediating for the merger, Srinivas said, "K Chandrasekhar Rao was part of first UPA government. He knows everybody in Delhi. He is close to many a Congress leader in Delhi even today. Still if the party High Command asks him to mediate, he would do so."

The former PCC president said, it was not correct to suspect High Command's intentions. The Congress party which has long history of over a century will not resort to such cheap tricks for the sake of winning panchayat elections. The former PCC president exuded confidence that if a resolution was introduced in the Assembly it would be passed unanimously. The resolution is one method to know the people's pulse but it is not binding on the Centre, he said.

Srinivas said that even if the State gets divided, Telugu people will always be one. He said since it appears that the Centre has already come to a decision, no one in the region should resort to suicide. It was unfortunate that so far about 1000 people had lost their lives for the cause of separate Telangana, Srinivas said. The party senior leader Palvai Govardhan Reddy who met the Union Home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and discussed the issue with him said that though it cannot be said that a decision has been taken, indications are that centre is in favour of dividing the State.

He said Shinde has asked him and some senior leaders to submit their reports on the issue so that it can also become part of the inputs for the High Command before it takes a decision. He said the Centre would come up with a clear announcement in the next three weeks. Civil Supplies Minister D Sridhar Babu exuded confidence that Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and PCC president Botcha Satyanarayana will give a roadmap in favour of separate Telangana state.

Opposing the proposal of Rayala Telangana, the Samaikyandhra joint action committee (JAC) staged protests in Kadapa and Anantapur districts of Rayalaseema region, demanding that either the State should remain united or split into three states. The students also tried to lay siege to the district collector's office.