While some believe this is an attempt to distract attention from the corruption charges being levelled against the government by the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP), others believe it is yet another manifestation of the confusion that continues in Congress over the highly emotive issue of a separate Telangana.

The announcement by Veerappa Moily last week that the Congress high command was favourable in setting up a second States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) to decide on the issue revived the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, whose credibility among the people has been on the wane, notwithstanding the re-election of its chief K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) to Lok Sabha from Karimnagar last year.

The party has now given an “ultimatum” to the Congress to either initiate the process to bring about the Telangana state by March 6 or face en masse resignations of 23 of its elected members from the Parliament, the state Legislative Assembly and the Council.

Congress leaders from Telangana, led by CWC member G Venkatswamy, have raised a banner of revolt, almost, with seniors threatening to resign from their Parliament and Assembly seats if the proposal of a second SRC is not getting through. Encouraged by the stance of the veteran, Telangana leaders of the party have come together as Forum of Telangana Congress. The forum believes that a second SRC or not granting Telangana would spell doom for the party in the region in the forthcoming 2009 Assembly elections. They hold Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy responsible for this situation as he is against separate Telangana.

A similar rebellion has been sounded in the TDP too with senior leader T Devender Goud asserting that the TDP should take a firm stand on Telangana before its annual convention Mahanadu in May.

Some attribute the second SRC idea to the real estate coterie that is led by coastal Andhra men, who have made mountains of money and have huge stakes in and around Hyderabad. They believe the coterie influenced Congress former pointsman for AP, Digvijay Singh, to moot a second SRC to separate Hyderabad city and its surrounding areas from Telangana and set it up as a Union Territory. Others believe it is a pre-election strategy as part of which the creation of Telangana state would be an election promise.

According to Congress insiders, by creating 10-12 states through the second SRC in states like Karnataka, West Bengal, UP, Mizoram and so on, the Congress would gain that many seats in those states in the next Parliament and emerge as a leading party. But it could also boomerang with those “losing” areas to a separate state voting against Congress.