TRS president KCR, who is now in Delhi for attending the budget session of the parliament, has reportedly started bargaining for the merger of his party with the congress with the core committee members secretly.

Highly placed sources said that KCR has come out with an offer to merge his party with the congress subject to the acceptance of his terms and conditions by the congress high command and one of the main conditions is that congress shall opt for midterm elections and he be made the chief minister before dividing the state. “The division may come later,” he even told the congress leadership, according to sources.
 
KCR, who has already been in touch with some top leaders of the congress through telephone discussions, has assured the leadership that he would surely win a minimum of 80 seats in the region in alliance with congress but he must be made the chief minister for the united AP. He will now personally meet the congress top leaders to concretize his proposals.

KCR has come to the conclusion that he would automatically become the chief minister of the newly formed Telangana state if he first assumes role as the chief minister of the united AP. “In case the TRS is merged with the congress before the division of the state, he feels he may not get the chance to become the chief minister for the separate Telangana state later. But if he becomes the CM for the united state, there won’t be any difficulty for him to continue as the CM for the newly formed Telangana later,” the sources said.

If these terms are acceptable to the congress leadership, KCR may first opt for electoral alliance with the congress and then announce merger of his party with the congress. We will have, however, to wait for some more days to know the response of the congress leadership for KCR’s advances.

For the immediate present, the merger talk will gain prominence soon after his return to Hyderabad.