HYDERABAD, 7 September 2004 — After a brief lull, Andhra Pradesh’s ruling Congress party and its alliance partner Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) have resumed making claims and counter-claims on the issue of statehood for the Telangana region.

Union minister and TRS President K. Chandrasekhara Rao says he is confident that the process for the creation of Telangana state would be set into motion after the assembly elections in Maharashtra in October because Congress chief Sonia Gandhi told him so.

However, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy claims there is no change in the Congress’ stand that a second states reorganization commission (SRC) should be set up to look into the demand.

Rao returned to Hyderabad from New Delhi last evening to a warm welcome by his party leaders and activists, elated over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s assertion on Saturday that the central government was committed to the formation of a separate state.

Rao said the union Cabinet was likely to give its approval for a bill for the formation of Telangana by December. Calling Sonia “mother” of the Telangana people, Rao said she had promised that the Home Ministry would initiate a file on Telangana soon after the elections in Maharashtra. “There is no ambiguity about a separate state. The prime minister has also made it clear that his government is committed to the formation of Telangana,” he said.

Rao’s confident assertions came just hours after the chief minister told a news conference on Sunday evening that Manmohan had only reiterated the stand of the central government that the issue would be settled through consultations.

Reddy also clarified that there was no change in his party’s stand that a second SRC should be formed to look into the demand. TRS is for the formation of Telangana on the basis of the recommendation of the first SRC made five decades ago.

YSR is clearly not in favor of a division of the state and his remarks on the issue had stirred up a huge controversy last month. TRS leader and union Minister of State for Rural Development A. Narendra had stated that the chief minister had lost his mental balance.

TRS has since been lying low. Now, the latest claim by the TRS chief about Sonia’s assertion may spark another war of words between the two parties. With five members in the Parliament, TRS is a partner in the central government. The party, which has 25 members in state assembly, is also sharing power with the Congress in the state. It has six members in the state council of ministers.

TDP Leaders Killed

Three leaders of the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) have been killed in the space of 12 hours in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district, leading to considerable tension yesterday.

Blaming the ruling Congress party for the murders, TDP leaders have taken to the streets in Anantapur town, 350 km from here, with the body of one of the victims.

In the first incident late Sunday, TDP leader T. Prabhakar was shot dead at point blank range the town as he was sitting in his car with his children outside a barber’s shop.

Even before TDP could organize protest against his murder, two other leaders were killed overnight. While Golla Srinivasulu was killed in Gorantla village, Ramakrishna was hacked to death in Kajululapalli village.