Cong goes all out to broker peace with TRS

Political advisor to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Ahmed Patel, in efforts to broker peace with TRS, met Rao and conveyed the message that “all the issues could be sorted out amicably through discussions”. Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh too spoke to Rao over phone last night. TRS leaders say other Congress leaders are also in constant touch with them.

The party feels Ahmed Patel’s visit was “significant” and it shows the Congress has responded seriously to its “definite deadline” strategy to elicit a positive response from the government on the issue.

However, according to TSR sources, a few party legislators have criticised the timing of the ultimatum considering that there are no elections on the cards and that the party received a drubbing in the last civic polls in Andhra Pradesh after deciding to go it alone.

But Rao is said to have conveyed to them that “two years and three months” is a long enough period for the Congress and the government to have come up with a “definite and positive response” to the Telangana issue, which is the very basis of the party’s existence.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who heads the UPA sub-committee on Telangana, is expected to hold discussions with Digvijay Singh tomorrow afternoon, after which Digvijay is likely to call on Rao.