Growing talk about the Centre granting statehood to Telangana is adding fuel to fire in the already confused political atmosphere in the state.

It all started with TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao spreading the news that Telangana state will be a reality by August-September. He even told the TJAC, which had planned to organise a protest march on Septe-mber 30, to defer it in view of the impending announcement of the Telangana state.

Adding to the confusion, former TRS MP B. Vinod Kumar said that the AICC leaders were in constant touch with TRS leaders and have been hinting on the formation of a separate state.

He said that the TRS will have no objection to a merger with the Congress once statehood was declared for Telang-ana. Mr Vinod Kumar said Mr Rao had made a promise to AICC president Sonia Gandhi on the merger proposal way back in 2005.

Talking to this correspondent on Friday, he said, “It is not mere talk to keep our cadres happy. It is a fact that some key persons in AICC have been talking to us for the last one week regarding the formation of Telangana state before September this year.”

“It may be Telangana state with 10 districts with Hyderabad as capital, or Rayala-Telangana by adding Kurnool and Anantapur districts, or it could even declare Hyderabad as a Union Territory for five years, making it the common capital for both the stat-es on condition that after five years Hyderabad will be the capital of only Telangana, all these proposals are being discussed now,” he said.

The talk about the impending formation of Telangana state by TRS leaders had Kurnool minister T. G. Venkatesh demanding a separate Rayalaseema state or continue with the united AP state as is.

Talking to this correspondent, former minister J.C. Diwakar Reddy confirmed, “There is some initiation by AICC leaders’ on the issue. I believe, AICC has been working towards resolving the issue once for all, however, we do not have details of the proposals.”

Meanwhile, the TRS leaders have confirmed in private conversations that both Mrs Gandhi's political advisor Ahmed Patel and PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana have reached out to them on the Telangana issue.

But so far there has been no official statement from any AICC leader on the issue, leaving politicians in the state waiting for one after the Presidential election.

Jana contradicts Kiran’s view on T

Panchayat raj minister K. Jana Reddy on Friday dismissed Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy’s contention that the creation of Telangana would have ramifications on other states.

Mr Jana Reddy, who is rumoured to be under consideration for the CM’s post in the event of a change, also made light of Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy's much publicised ‘Indiramma Baata’.

“There is nothing new in the programme except the name,” he said, adding that the CM should have taken all the ministers on board before announcing the programme. He, however, dismissed speculations about a change of guard.

“Let those who have to decide on the subject come out with the proposal first and initiate the process. It amounted to greed if the CM’s post was being thought about even before such a move. It was also irrelevant to talk about a TRS merger with the Congress,” he said.