The survey done by a private agency said the TRS would do better if it is merged with the Congress in a separate Telangana state, and the report said the two parties with the combined strength were likely to bag 12 to 14 Loksabha seats, and 70 t0 80 Assembly seats in the region. Telangana region has a total of 17 Loksabha constituencies, and 119 assembly segments.
Highly placed sources in the party said the senior leader from AP Congress engaged the private agency to do the survey and submitted the report to Rahul Gandhi a couple of days ago ahead of the Jaipur AICC session. The centre is committed to take a decision on Telangana issue before January 28.
"The Congress high command has taken Telangana issue seriously considering its political implications, especially after the self-imposed deadline is fixed. Rahul wanted us to give him authentic inputs for his personal consumption. We hired a private agency to do the survey, and we gave the report to Rahul on January 14," said a Congress MP from Telangana, who is close to Rahul Gandhi.
As a two-day brain storm session started on Friday in Jaipur as a prelude to the AICC session slated for January 20, the state Congress leaders expect the Telangana issue to figure in the deliberations on Saturday.
"So far the deliberations were on the issues such as economic reforms, and the schemes like direct cash transfer. Telangan issue may come up on Saturday in a separate committee meeting on Saturday," labour minister Danam Nagender told HNN from the venue of the session in Jaipur.
The survey report throws up some politically significant aspects such as no political party including the Congress and the TRS would singly benefit from the formation of Telangana state. And these two parties would face a win-win situation in case the Centre grants statehood for Telangana before 2014 elections. The report warns the Congress that it would be rooted out in the region if no decision is taken on Telangana. And interestingly, it says even TRS would take a hit in case Telangana state is not formed, and the party's representation in the state Assembly would reduced to a single digit. Now, the TRS has 17 MLAs, and two Loksabha MPs.
"The outcome of the survey is clear that the Congress must take a proactive step in dealing with Telangana issue, and the party must join hands with the TRS if it wants to take benefit of the formation of Telangana state. And it is inevitable for the TRS to go for the merger with the Congress," said the Congress MP.
In a measured response to the query relating to the survey report, the TRS leaders said their party is open for all the options that ensure the formation of Telangana state.
"In October last year, when the Congress leaders invited us to discuss Telangana, the issue of merger had come up. But, they retracted after a point of time during the discussion in Delhi. Now, they are saying their survey suggest them the merger. We don't want to say anything at this juncture. Our course of action depends on the political situation going to be emerged," B Vinod Kumar, a politburo member of TRS.
The survey report said the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) would gain some grounds in the region thanks to its pro- Telangana stand expressed in the all-party meeting held on December 28 2012.
But, the report has sounded a death knell for the Telangana Congress minister and legislators, who took neutral stand on the state division issue, as it predicted they would be severely punished by the voters in the next elections in either way if Telangana state is formed or not.
The reports said there would be little change for the pro-Telangana parties like BJP, and CPI as they can hardly improve their tally even if the Telangana is granted. However, the report said, the YSR Congress was expected to grow stronger thanks to the joining of defectors from the other parties including Congress, TDP, and TRS.
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