Mind made up, no alliance with Congress, says Telangana's KCR

Hyderabad: After weeks of suspense, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi or TRS has announced it will go it alone in the Lok Sabha polls. TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao today ruled out an alliance with the Congress for the upcoming Lok Sabha and state Assembly polls.

Addressing TRS workers at the Telangana Bhavan in Hyderabad, KCR pointed out that they had proposed merger of the TRS with the Congress to secure statehood for the region and prevent suicides by hundreds of youth. "But now, people are against our merger and hence we are going by their wish," he said.

"Let's see from tomorrow if TRS MLAs will join the Congress or the reverse will happen," the TRS chief added.

An opinion poll by NDTV shows that KCR will win 11 of the 17 parliamentary seats in Telangana, to be officially born as India's 29th state on June 2. The Congress is likely to get five seats.

KCR had recently rejected an overture by the Congress for a merger. 

The Congress had reportedly rejected KCR's demand to be made chief minister of the new state during the negotiations for a merger. He was also irked by the fact that the new state will not be formally founded till after the national election.

The Congress pushed the proposal for the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh as vote-bait, hoping to reap a rich harvest in the Telangana region in the national election.

But it ran behind schedule in getting the plan cleared by Parliament.