TRS-Congress alliance talks gather steam as KCR meets Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Days after Parliament cleared the formation of a separate Telangana state, the party that fought for the cause has begun intense negotiations with the Congress for an alliance ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief K Chandrasekhar Rao today met Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi as per reports, but no details of the meeting were available as yet. Today's meeting followed KCR's talks with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party general secretary Digvijay Singh.

While the TRS is not seeking an immediate merger with the Congress – which was expected to happen post the Centre's push on Telangana – the party has indicated that it is open to the idea of giving the national party a major share of 17 Lok Sabha seats in the new state if the latter backs its leader KCR for chief minister's post.

The indications to this effect have been given by KCR himself.

The proposed deal may benefit Congress after all, but it will go against the scheme of things of the national party.

The deal will help the Congress wrest a lion's share of 17 LS seats in Telangana and support it nationally, but may undermine its original plan to become a dominant force in the new state.

Experts have based the Congress' renewed push on Telangana on the realisation that the popularity of YSR Congress led by Jagan Reddy has exceeded that of the Congress and that the national party's fortunes lie only in Telangana.