CONGRESS, TRS WAR INTENSIFIES

With election temperatures rising in Telangana, the TRS and Congress seem to be at each other's throats as the war of words between the two main contenders in the region, set to become a new state on June 2, is showing no signs of abating. As voting nears for the Lok Sabha polls in Telangana (April 30), where simultaneous elections would be held for 119 Assembly and 17 Lok Sabha seats, the barbs between TRS supremo K Chandrasekar Rao (KCR), Telangana PCC president Ponnala Lakshmaiah is getting nastier with both challenging each other for a debate on the backwardness or development of Telangana. The contrast can't get more stark than this. Not long ago, bonhomie marked the relations between the two parties after the Telangana Bill was passed by Parliament as there were expectations that they would merge or at least have an electoral alliance. But with TRS deciding to shut the door on Congress vis-à-vis both options and deciding to go it alone, the two parties seem to be in a no holds barred attack against each other. The hostility between the two parties which once considered closer on the 'ideological' platform scaled new heights in recent time after the TRS chief termed Lakshmaiah as the "agent" of Rajya Sabha MP KVP Ramachandra Rao, a Seemandhra Congress leader who vociferously objected to the formation of Telangana state. Reacting to this, Lakshmaiah described KCR as an opportunist and alleged that he sold TRS party tickets in the elections. Joining the chorus with his father, KCR's son K T Ramarao today demanded an apology from Sonia Gandhi for "delay" in formation of Telangana. "Ten years back, Sonia Gandi promised Telangana if they come into power in both State and Centre. Now they (Congress) owe an explanation as to why it took ten years for the state formation. Due to the deal, many young people lost their lives," Ramarao fumed at Congress. He also demanded that the Congress apologise to the families of those lost their lives for the formation the state.