Seemandhra pin hopes on poll reversals

Hyderabad : Virtually hoping against hope, the Seemandhra leaders are expecting that the electoral reverses for the ruling Congress in the four States might have an impact on the bifurcation process in Andhra Pradesh.

Several Congress leaders including Vijayawada MP L Rajagopal said in the past that the Congress would face adverse results in the four States and would go back on the bifurcation process. At a press conference on Sunday, Lagadapati said that the poll outcome would have a bearing on the Centre and the Congress high command.

However, Rajagopal and other Seemandhra leaders could not explain why they thought the division process could be halted. According to sources, Seemandhra leaders were of the opinion that the adverse results would dent the morale of the Congress leadership.

This, they hope, might lead to slowing down on the process of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. Some leaders are expecting that the BJP would pull down the Central government to force early elections and in such an eventuality the division process would come to a halt.

However, Telangana protagonists are rubbishing the assumptions and are firm that the bill would be passed in the Parliament even if UPA-2 faces non-cooperation from its constituents.

They are of the view that BJP which was vociferous about Telangana statehood demand would support the bill in its own interests. It may not allow the Congress to pass the bills like Women Reservations and others but would certainly allow the Telangana bill.

This is because the BJP would certainly not want the headache of bifurcation to be carried on to its head if the NDA comes to power after the 2014 elections.

Secondly, it would certainly not interested in getting the bad name of stalling the Telangana formation by pulling down the UPA government as it would not benefit the party in any way. On the other hand, if it helped the UPA to pass the Telangana bill, it would get a lot of mileage in the elections in the Telangana region and help it win at least a couple of MP seats.

And if it can manage the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and refrain it from joining hands with the Congress, it can also get the support of TRS MPs to the NDA in the post-poll scenario.

'And as long as the BJP supports the Telangana bill, the Seemandhra leaders cannot hope to stall the bifurcation,' a Telangana leader said.