Cong, TRS in mudslinging match over Telangana

A war of words has broken out in Andhra Pradesh over Telangana Rashtra Samity (TRS) chief K Chandrashekhar Rao's reported statement that he would drag Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy "to the bazaar" if a Telangana state was not carved out.

Though the TRS chief has himself explained that he meant no disrespect to Gandhi, Congress leaders appear to be in no mood to let the matter hang and are busy outwitting each other in their interpretation of the  statement. In a bid to patch up with the Congress, Rao said "it was not intended (to mean any offense). The remarks were made in a tone and tenor typical of Telangana dialect."

Former  CLP leader P Janardhana Reddy and others issued an ultimatum to Rao demanding that he should withdraw his remarks against Gandhi otherwise they would launch an agitation.

Rao's rhetoric, delivered at a party convention on Friday, set off ripples in the political circles with the chief minister indicating that the Congress would "review the alliance" with the TRS in the face of "highly deplorable" remarks by the TRS supremo.

Subsequently, Rao, who is also the Union minister , made a climb-down and expressed regrets over his remarks. "I never meant to show disrespect to Sonia Gandhi. I have full faith in her leadership and her assurances on Telangana," Rao had clarified.

However, the state Congress leaders' outbursts have more to do with the Rao's perceived closeness with Gandhi and his attempt to send out the signal that the Congress was at the mercy of its support in Hyderabad as well as New Delhi.

Uncomfortable with the forced coexistence with the TRS in the government, the state Congress leadership was waiting for an issue and the TRS chief gave it to them on a platter.

Matters reached a head when the chief minister greeted the reported remarks of the TRS leader and Union Minister A Narendra that the TRS would review its ties with the Congress if the promise on Telangana was not kept, by saying, "most welcome".

What has been surprising about the whole event is the naivety that an otherwise politically savvy Rao has shown.

The immediate provocation for the TRS chief to make such a statement has been the repeated assertion of state Congress leaders that their party was committed to the constitution of the second States' Reorganisation Commission as far as the demand for a separate Telangana was concerned, which is seen as delaying the formation of Telangana.

The distance widened when Digvijay Singh, state party in-charge, endorsed the state leadership's stand on Telangana during his first visit to the state.

Though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement that his government was committed to Telangana cause came as a big solace to the TRS leaders, it proved to be short lived as the state Congress leaders again launched a fresh round of SRC talk, to counter the TRS leaders who had been maintaining that Telangana was not a distant reality.