Neglected by Centre, TRS chief sulks

Apart from zero movement forward by the Pranab Mukherjee Committee on Telangana after eliciting the views of political parties, back home in Andhra Pradesh, Rao faces the apathy of Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy who has ignored his plea to defer the Pulichintala Irrigation Project. The problems have been compounded by party dissidence and reverses in local polls.

Rao allowed himself to be persuaded to leave the decision on the statehood to UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who, in turn, entrusted the matter to a ministerial group comprising Mukherjee, Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran. The committee got the views of other parties, after which instead of formulating a plan, it became inactive.

It is clear the Congress is not inclined to carve out Telangana out of AP. Its own CM is against it. The party, while aligning with the TRS, had only promised Rao a second state re-organisation committee (SRC) to consider the demand. The CMP, which followed, said the UPA government would ‘‘consider’’ the demand ‘‘at an appropriate time after due consultations and consensus’’. In any case, if the Congress decided to create the new state, it would want to take total credit for it rather than let Rao bask in achievement.

As long as the TRS remained part of his government, YSR was under pressure from party general secretary in-charge Digvijay Singh to pay heed to Rao’s demand to defer the Pulichintala project. With TRS’ withdrawal, YSR is going ahead with the scheme, which, Rao claims, would irrigate farms only in the coastal areas while submerging limestone deposits in Telangana.

YSR’s confidence has been boosted by Congress bagging two-thirds of municipalities in the recent polls, leaving TRS smarting even in its strongholds. To add to Rao’s woes, there is resentment in the TRS against the rise of Rao’s nephew T Harish Rao. Rao suspects YSR’s hand in the rebellion. Sources close to Rao said he was dismayed, and unable to figure out what to do next after having pulled all his six ministers out of the state Cabinet in July.