Rahul Gandhi rules out tie-up with TRS

Kothur: Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi ruled out the possibility of any alliance or relationship with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). "There is absolutely no possibility of any relationship between the TRS and the Congress. The corruption, the approach, the attitude of the TRS is not acceptable to us. We are diametrically opposite to what they are doing," he said.

Asked about TRS founder K Chandrashekar Rao's move to rename his party as the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, Rahul Gandhi said the Telangana chief minister was free to imagine that he was leading a national party. "We have no problem. He can even imagine contesting globally and running an international party. Good he can do it," Rahul said.

Replying to a question on upcoming Gujarat assembly elections, Rahul exuded confidence that his party will win the elections. He said there was "massive" anti-incumbency against the BJP while the Aam Aadmi Party has created a buzz in the state purely based on advertisements and has no support on the ground.

Asked about his remarks at the Udaipur Chintan Shivir that the Congress' connection with the people has been broken and how far he has been able to re-establish it with the Yatra, Rahul said Bharat Jodo Yatra is ''not a magic wand'' but a good first step to connect with people. On when and where he will campaign in the poll-bound states of Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, Rahul Gandhi said, "Kharge Ji is the president of the party and he will decide how I am to be utilised."

Gandhi refused to comment on the tragedy in Morbi where a bridge collapsed leaving more than 130 dead, saying he did not wish to politicise the incident.

Rahul said massive concentration of capital has adversely affected the small and medium businesses in the country, the job creation structure of the country has been destroyed and today India is unable to produce jobs. "A huge part of the reason is that there is a massive concentration of power. Both the BJP government at the Centre and the TRS government here in Telangana are doing this," he said.