Telangana meet today, TRS not hopeful

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y Rajashekhara Reddy and Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief K Chandrashekhara Rao are scheduled to meet here tomorrow.

But, according to sources, neither party is hopeful of bridging the divide.

In fact, sources say the TRS may formally quit the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in the next two months if no headway is made on its demand for creation of a separate Telangana state.

The TRS has placed six demands before the UPA. The first two demands relate to the Pulichintala and Polavaram irrigation projects, because of which several hundred villages in the Telangana region face submersion.

The third demand relates to release of water to the left and right canal of the Nagarjuna Sagar project.

"These three demands are unlikely to be conceded by the chief minister, since the people of the Krishna and Rayalseema region stand to benefit," said a TRS leader.

"The chief minister may concede demands like peace talks with naxals, release water through a laid pipeline to Hyderabad," he said.

With the Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar coming out in support of Telangana demand at a TRS rally in Warangal, the TRS seems to have got a huge moral boost. The TRS chief has been trying to garner support for the separate state from among UPA partners.

The TRS is also worried that the group of ministers on the Telangana issue, headed by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, may recommend that the matter should go to a second states reorganisation committee. "If that happens, we will have no choice but to separate from the UPA," said a TRS leader.

"However, we feel Mukherjee's report will only be a status report with the final decision left to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi," he added.