Hyderabad, November 15: What is Congress working committee (CWC) member K Keshava Rao up to? The other day, he described the TDP’s Telangana leaders as “heroes” and profusely thanked Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief K Chandrasekhar Rao for his offer of support to the Congress.
And, notwithstanding his clarification, what did Chandrasekhar Rao exactly mean by “strengthening the Congress hands.” There is speculation that there is more to all this than meets the eye, given the sticky wicket the UPA finds itself on following the CAG’s indictment of telecom minister and DMK leader A Raja in the 2G spectrum scam and the Opposition’s demand for his dismissal. Sources told Express that the Congress high command has entrusted Keshava Rao with the task of wooing smaller parties, just in case the DMK pulls out of the UPA.
This probably is the reason why Keshava Rao was thankful to KCR and called TDP’s Telangana leaders “heroes.” The TDP has two Telangana Lok Sabha members- Nama Nageswara Rao and Ramesh Rathod.
Sources in the TRS say though it has only two MPs in the Lok Sabha, a situation may arise where even a single MP’s support could prove crucial.
The Congress does not want to leave anything to chance. Realising the Congress’ anxiety, the TRS chief offered support in return for an early decision on Telangana.
If KCR chooses to support the UPA, it would mean a policy shift for him since he has been pally with the DMK all these years. At a time when the DMK wants to embarrass the UPA, would Chandrasekhar Rao abandon the DMK and go with Jayalalithaa to help the Congress is the question that is doing the rounds.
Though the DMK did not give its opinion on Telangana to the Pranab Mukherjee committee and though it had received with a pinch of salt the December 9 announcement of Chidambaram promising Telangana, KCR has been continuing his cordial relations with the party much to the chagrin of a few of his colleagues.
–Agencies