Date:22/08/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/08/22/stories/2006082206190600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Congress bid to mollify TRS

Special Correspondent

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."