Chandrasekhar Rao (top) and Digvijay Singh

New Delhi, Aug. 20: Congress general secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh Digvijay Singh will meet defence minister Pranab Mukherjee tomorrow to assess the situation arising out of the Telengana Rashtra Samiti’s threat to pull its ministers out of the Union cabinet.

The TRS has said its ministers will quit latest by Tuesday because the Centre has not fulfilled its promise to create a separate Telengana state.

Singh is expected to speak to TRS chief and Union labour minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. Congress sources said his “message” would be that the Congress is not against Telengana and is committed to the joint declaration it had issued with the TRS before the Andhra elections.

Singh will make it clear that the TRS would have to wait for Mukherjee’s report on the issue before the government can “act”, the sources said, adding that given the CPM’s opposition to a separate state, a consensus would first have to be evolved in the UPA.

Congress sources said despite Andhra chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy’s known opposition to Telengana, if the “high command” wanted it, he would have to “fall in line”.

When Singh spoke to Rao a week ago, the TRS chief is believed to have admitted that his followers were growing restive and he was worried about the implications of the “delay” on the ground.

Independent sources, however, said the “restiveness” had more to do with the TRS chief’s decision to ask his ministers to pull out of the Reddy government shortly after they were inducted as a “mark of protest”.

“Now these legislators are asking him why did he compel them to leave when he himself was continuing as a minister and enjoying the fruits of power?” a source said.

There was speculation that some TRS MLAs were thinking of joining the Congress. A Congress source, however, said: “There is no question of us breaking our ally’s ranks. It’s unthinkable. But, of course, we would want the TRS ministers back in the Andhra government.”

Although the TRS has only five MPs, Congress sources emphasised that they would not be happy if these legislators were to quit.

“The TRS is a source of strength. We fought the last elections together and we would like them to continue. But they should be patient because Telengana is being considered,” said a functionary.

The sources said besides the Left, the Andhra Congress was also divided into two groups — “the integrationists and the separatists”.

“Both sides have equally forceful arguments. One has to be careful within and beyond the party,” a source conceded.