Congress talks of merger with TRS; TRS says no

New Delhi, Feb 26: The possibility of

merging with

seemed to have hit a roadblock today with the regional party of Andhra Pradesh saying there was no such move but said it was open to an alliance.

On the other hand, Congress claimed TRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao has expressed readiness to merge but TRS has, in turn, said no such assurance has been given.

"As far as merger of TRS with Congress is concerned, we are very happy that KCR has met Congress President (Sonia Gandhi) and party Vice President Rahul Gandhi and he has indicated merger of TRS with Congress party," AICC in-charge of Andhra Pradesh Digvijay Singh told reporters here.

"The details will be worked out," he added. However, a top leader of TRS had a different take on it. "Our leadership has never indicated that TRS will merge with Congress.

We had met the Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh), the Congress President and the Vice President to thank them for their efforts for passage of Telangana Bill," said the TRS leader on condition of anonymity. Nothing beyond that transpired in the meetings, he added.

"A merger is unlikely between the two parties since 90 per cent of TRS leaders are against it," the TRS leader claimed. He said that instead of merger, an alliance between TRS and Congress is a possibility, which may take shape only after the Election Code of Conduct comes into force.

According to him, a majority among the TRS top leadership was against merger, though they were in favour of an alliance for coming elections. On the other hand, a section of Telangana Congress leaders are believed to be not in favour of the merger, with a senior leader claiming the "rank and file" of Telangana Congress was averse to any such merger move.

PTI