Telengana Rasthra Samithi chief K Chandrashekhar Rao is angry and upset these days. "What will I do with shipping in Telengana," asks an exasperated Rao as readies for another one of his innumerable trips to New Delhi.
Rao has been shuttling between Delhi and Hyderabad ever since the Manmohan Singh government came to power in May. He avails the J-class free air travel facility. He has Z-plus security. He has an official bungalow in Delhi.
Rao has all the paraphernalia that comes with the post of a Cabinet minister. But the TRS chief has been a Cabinet minister without portfolio for more than five months now. The minister says he has reasons to be upset.
He says the Congress has been neglecting his party's 'condition' for sharing power in Andhra Pradesh and at the Centre.
Rao says he has suddenly found he is the only one who is talking of a separate Telengana state. "That is a demand I want the government to implement soon. Else the people of Andhra Pradesh won't forgive us," Rao points out.
But is his demand for the Telengana state linked with the Cabinet portfolio?
"No. My party agreed to be part of the Manmohan Singh government in return for Telengana. But I really do not know why I am not yet given a portfolio," Rao says.
In fact, the PM had allocated the shipping ministry to Rao. But immediately, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi created a row demanding that the ministry should be given to his party. Rao more than happy to surrender shipping.
"What could have I done with shipping in Telengana," he asks.
Rao says the ministry that he is given should be relevant to the people of Telengana. Towards that end, the TRS chief has been insisting that the prime minister gives him industry or power. But he is still to get any positive response from Delhi.
Not many believe that the high profile industry or power ministries will be entrusted with Rao. But a close aide of the TRS chief discloses that Prime Minister Singh has assured Rao a "good portfolio". "It could be the coals and mining ministry, which the prime minister himself is handling these days," said an aide.
Ever since Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Shibu Soren quit, Prime Minister Singh has been in charge of the coals and mining. Rao may be happy with the coals and mining ministry as he feels that the new ministry could be of relevance to the Telengana region.
Rao has also met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other coalition partners on the issue.
The TRS chief is not just upset over the denial of a cabinet berth. He is also angry that the Congress, which promised to carve out the separate Telengana state, is playing a different tune now.
Last week, Rao flew to Delhi to meet Sonia Gandhi. But when he reached Delhi, he found that his appointment stood cancelled as Gandhi had "other priorities".
"The Congress needs to speed up the Telengana promise. Or the inevitable would happen," Rao warns. Rao refuses to say what this 'inevitable' is.
However, Chief Minister Y R Rajasekhara Reddy does not attach much significance to Rao's position. "A new state is not created overnight. I do not know why Rao is hyping up the Telengana issue everyday," Reddy told rediff.com.
According to the chief minister, the question of a separate Telengana state is something that the central government has to decide by consensus. "The Centre will set up a second states reorganisation commission, which will look into the issue of new states like Telengana and Vidharbha," Reddy pointed out.
But Rao says setting up a new commission would be a waste of time. "How long can we wait now," asks the TRS chief. The TRS leadership is worried that if it fails to set in motion the process of creating a separate Telengana state soon, it will bear the brunt of voters in the March 2005 local body elections in Andhra Pradesh.
According to sources in the TRS, the party's alliance with the Congress looks doomed if the Telengana stalemate continues.
TRS has other worries too. The party's very existence hinges on the new state issue. Recently the naxalites hijacked the separate statehood demand to add to its troubles.
BJP's Andhra Pradesh unit president N Indrasena Reddy says the Telengana statehood demand is slipping away from Rao. "They came to power by promising Telengana. Where is the new state? It is shameful that Rao is continues to be a minister without portfolio," Reddy says.
