The Hindu : Front Page : Bid to keep TRS in UPA fold on

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Tuesday, Aug 22, 2006

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Bid to keep TRS in UPA fold on

Special Correspondent

Congress leader Digvijay Singh drafted for sorting out the Telangana tangle

NEW DELHI: Faced with the threat of its constituent Telangana Rashtra Samiti quitting the United Progressive Alliance Government on the issue of separate Telangana, the Congress has launched efforts to persuade its ally to think again.

Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh is the party pointsman to sort out the tangle and he has declared that the effort is to keep the TRS well within the UPA fold. The Congress leader met TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao at his residence on Monday evening after he had a meeting with Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

We are hopeful of a positive result,'' Mr. Singh told correspondents after a meeting that lasted over an hour. While stating that the UPA would take the final decision on the issue of separate Telangana, Mr. Singh said that the ``Congress has always taken a positive line in the interest of the people of Telangana."

Earlier, after his meeting with Mr. Mukherjee, who heads the UPA committee on Telangana, the Congress general secretary said the party would not prefer to take the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party on the issue of separate Telangana.

KCR's announcement

The TRS chief had last week announced that the party representatives in the Union Council of Ministers would put in their papers latest by Tuesday and take recourse to agitational mode in pursuance of his objective of a separate State.

Party sources said Congress president Sonia Gandhi was fully conscious of the issue and was of the opinion that TRS leaders should exhibit patience. The UPA committee that has been asked to carry forward the process of consultation in order to have a consensus on the issue has concluded that there is no unanimity.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) stood opposed to the formation of Telangana and the Congress-led UPA is reluctant to take the support of the BJP in working out a solution on the vexed issue

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