HYDERABAD: Is there a hidden agenda behind the latest initiative of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief K Chandrasekhar Rao to take along Congress leaders in the ongoing fight for a separate Telangana state? Yes, say informed sources.The game plan, apparently being played in perfect coordination by the Congress and the TRS, is to corner both the Telugu Desam and the YSR Congress of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.Observers point out that Congress ministers would not have dared hold a meeting with Rao and other TRS leaders on Wednesday night without Delhi’s tacit approval.The intention, it appears, is to ensure that only the Congress and the TRS steal the thunder as far as the T issued is concerned. This, the two parties believe, will isolate the TDP and prevent Jagan’s party from gaining a foothold in Telangana.As part of this plan, Congress and TRS leaders will stage protests but may not take recourse to resignations en masse.However, depending on how the situation pans out in the coming weeks, a few Congress legislators or MPs may even be encouraged to resign after under-writing their reelection.In other words, the TRS will not put up candidates against a Congress nominee if he resigns for the T cause and seeks re-election.“The idea is to keep the T pot boiling until 2014 so that the two parties can reap electoral harvest if the State is then divided,” a separatist leader said.Simultaneously, the Congress leadership wants to allow equal space to its coastal leaders to reflect the feelings of that region. A case in point is the recent row kicked up by Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal on the 14 (F) issue during which he engaged in a verbal duel with fellow MPs from Telangana.“It is only Congressmen who are occupying the space on either side of the divide. In doing so, they hope to prevent others from gaining ground either in Telangana or other regions,” an analyst said.At least till now, the Congress game appears to be working. While TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu continues to face serious problems in checking the party’s eroding credibility in Telangana, Jagan has so far not come out with his party’s agenda just because he does not know what to say on the Telangana issue.Sources in the Jagan camp say the MP has roped in some party leaders to seek opinions from a cross section on how the YSR Congress should frame its position on the T issue. But, it remains a question for which there are no easy answers.
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