Left unity under Telangana cloud in Andhra

The CPI(M), senior leaders said, ‘‘is totally against the division of Andhra Pradesh and the formation of a separate Telengana’’. The party thus refuses to have any understanding with the TRS which advocates the division of the state.

The CPI, on the other hand, has been holding talks with TRS leaders and is willing to have an alliance with the party in the interest of ‘‘secular unity’’.

The Congress — which was earlier against the formation of a separate Telangana or Vidarbha — has also softened its stand, given the strong sentiments in favour of the demands within its own ranks. The Congress, too, may have seat adjustments with the TRS in the elections, sources said.

The CPI(M)’s opposition to the demand stems from both ideological and electoral reasons. Party leaders point out that Communist leaders such as P. Sundarayya were in the forefront of the Vishalandhra struggle in the 1950s for the formation of a united Andhra Pradesh based on the linguistic principle. A separate Telangana will undermine this principle and in the long run help the Hindutva forces who were always against the linguistic reorganisation of states, the party feels.

But even from the point of view of the coming elections, any support to the TRS is likely to help chief minister Chandrababu Naidu portray himself as the sole champion of a united Andhra Pradesh. While the CPI feels ties with the TRS will help consolidate the secular vote against the TDP-BJP combine, the CPI(M) argues it might only help the TDP.

Speaking to The Indian Express, CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury said, ‘‘People outside Andhra Pradesh do not realise that a separate Telangana means Hyderabad will cease to be part of Andhra — and that would have a big emotional impact on the rest of the state. It is akin to taking out Mumbai from Maharashtra or Kolkata from West Bengal.’’

Writing in the forthcoming issue of the party’s mouthpiece People’s Democracy, CPI(M) general secretary H.K.S. Surjeet also criticised the CPI’s plans for a tie-up with the TRS. ‘‘We of the CPI(M) are fully aware of the need to defeat the TDP-BJP combine but it does not mean that we should give up our principled stand and sacrifice the interests of future for the sake of some temporary gain at present,’’ writes Surjeet.

The Telangana region, comprising eight districts, counts for 107 of the 294 Assembly seats and has been a traditional Communist base from the days of the Telangana agitation in the 1940s.

In recent local elections, the newly formed TRS won the zilla parishad and mandal parishad seats and is seen as a rising force. The TRS is fuelling the sense of resentment among the Telangana people whose main complaint is that successive regimes have neglected their region while coastal Andhra has prospered. That TDP leaders starting with NTR largely hail from coastal Andhra has only added to the resentment.