Date:18/08/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/08/18/stories/2004081809370400.htm

Andhra Pradesh

`Merger feelers from TRS leaders'

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, AUG. 17. The Telangana Regional Congress Coordination Committee (TRCCC) is not averse to the idea of the TRS merging with the Congress. However, it must be "Narendra sans BJP and RSS connection and KCR minus his ego."

Announcing this at a press conference on Tuesday, TRCCC leaders -- K. Kesava Rao and K.R. Amos -- said that the talk of the possibility was certainly making the rounds and there was nothing wrong in it. In fact, some feelers were being sent by some TRS leaders to them, they claimed.

Not `sincere'

Discounting the TRS contribution to the Telangana cause and to the Congress victory in the recent elections, they said the former did not have even half of the strength of the Congress in the region.

The TRS leadership was showing its true colours very fast in distancing itself from the Telangana cause. The TRCCC leaders would submit a memorandum to the Chief Minister to seek the package. They urged him to seek irrigation experts' opinion on all aspects before embarking on the projects.