The Congress does not want the Telangana Rashtra Samithi to be merged with it before the Lok Sabha and the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections due in early next year after realising that a merger could help the BJP in getting space in Telangana.
The agitation for a separate Telangana state got momentum when the TRS led by K. Chandrasekhar Rao had sat on an indefinite fast a few years ago.
The separate identity of regional parties like the Telugu Desam Party, the TRS, the YSR Congress Party and Left pockets in Andhra Pradesh have been preventing the BJP from getting space in the state which sends 42 members in the LS.
The saffron party has been faceless in Andhra Pradesh despite it had got some space due to the pre-poll alliance or understanding with the TDP. But when the latter disassociated from it after the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat, the BJP had failed to recover.
The central leaders of the Congress party are unsure of whether the state government would continue till the Lok Sabha and the state Assembly polls because of several factors.
Asked whether a Telangana state would be created before the Winter Session of Parliament (November-December), highly-placed Congress sources hinted on Saturday, it could be delayed.
The Congress is committed to the creation of a Telangana state but unable to contain growing dissension, bitterness between people from Andhra and Telangana which is becoming violent.
Besides, the Telangana issue would not remain confined to Andhra for the simple reason that it is fuelling the demand to split West Bengal, Assam and Maharashtra. Though home minister Sushilkumar Shinde ruled out imposition of President’s Rule in Andhra, Congress strategists are unsure how the state legislature would pass a resolution on Telangana.