Has the stunning defeat forced the beleaguered Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K. Chandrasekhara Rao to think about the possibility of once again joining hands with the ruling Congress party? In less than 24 hours of the TRS getting a drubbing in the by-elections at the hands of both Congress and the TDP, the question was being debated furiously in the political circles as senior TRS legislator and a close confidante of KCR, T. Harish Rao met the Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy at his residence on Monday. The two spent about fifteen minutes in a closed-door meeting sparking speculations that the two parties were thinking of building bridges again. The speculations continued even after Harish Rao denied that the meeting had any political purpose. “I met the Chief Minister to discuss about the proposal to set up a women's degree college in my constituency Siddipet”, he told the media. “I also congratulated him for Congress party's victory in the by elections”, he added. But the timing of the meeting and the fact that no body was present while the two met suggest that there was more to it than meets the eye. It is believed that the issue of Telangana came up for discussion between the two. Harish Rao, who won with a thumping majority of 58,000 votes, is the nephew of Chandrasekhara Rao. It is understood that he met the Chief Minister at the behest of KCR, who is also facing an additional worry of challenge from the rebel group of TRS legislator. The TRS is worried that the rebel TRS group might stake a claim to be recognized as the real TRS because the rebels now have ten members in the state legislative assembly while the strength of the official TRS has got reduced to seven. Observers say that when the newly elected members claim the status of the TRS legislature group, they may face a legal and the political challenge from the rebels. Meanwhile, the Congress party also seems to be keeping the option of reviving the relationship with the TRS in future. When asked about the possibility the chief minister said, “We are brothers, some times we fight and some time we are together”. __
