Congress president Sonia Gandhi has reportedly assured TRS chief KCR that an announcement on the formation of Telangana would be made in June but on the sole condition that the TRS must be merged with the congress party. Hyderabad will continue to be the capital city of both Seema Andhra and Telangana for the next 15 years, the congress president also seems to have told him.

KCR himself has reportedly revealed this in a meeting of the SMOs of Telangana this morning in Hyderabad. “Sonia promised to give Telangana with Hyderabad being made capital of both Telangana and Seema Andhra for a minimum period of 15 years. She said the government will make an announcement on this in June but she asked for the merger of the TRS with the congress,” KCR told the meeting.

Reports indicated that the participating SMOs had objected to the merger of TRS with the congress but then KCR convinced them on this saying that he had no objection for the merger for the sake of Telangana. “Congress will not give T state if there is no merger,” KCR told the SMOs according to the ABN Andhra Jyothy channel.

“600 people lost their lives for the sake of Telangana and we will lose nothing if I merge my party with the congress for the sake of Telangana,” he explained to them. The channel said that KCR had even indicated to the SMOs that he would be first chief minister of newly formed Telangana state.

However, in a panel discussion conducted by the ABN Andhra Jyothy channel later, TRS leaders Harish Rao, Nayani Narasimha reddy and Raghunandana Rao denied the reports that KCR had said that TRS would be merged with the Congress. “If the congress had agreed for the Telangana state in 2004, we would have merged our party with it in that year but now it is not possible,” they told the channel.

Despite these denials by the TRS leaders, the merger talk has gained ground with a rocket speed and now everyone thinks that merger of TRS with the congress will take place in June.