The no-confidence motion moved by the opposition Telugu Desam against the N Kiran Kumar Reddy-led Congress government in Andhra Pradesh is by no means of only academic interest. Though the government is unlikely to fall -- as the numerical strength of the ruling and opposition parties suggest -- the outcome of the division on the motion is likely to have a far reaching impact on the politics of the state.
It was supposed to be a momentous day for the ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh with formalities related to the merger of Praja Rajyam Party getting completed on Monday.
Several senior leaders and dignitaries including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi visited Puttaparthi on Wednesday to pay their last respects to Sathya Sai Baba.
The focal point of the Telangana issue has shifted to Delhi with the arrival of Andhra Pradesh Governor ESL Narasimhan and Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy in the capital on Wednesday.
More trouble seems to be in store for Andhra Pradesh next week as the state government and the employees of Telangana region are heading towards a clash over an indefinite strike in support of a separate state. While the N Kiran Kumar Reddy government is planning to invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act to foil the strike, employees from Andhra and Rayalseema have volunteered to work during the strike.
Legislators from the Andhra-Seema belt say that Kiran Kumar Reddy ready knew about the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh since December. Vicky Nanjappa reports
The next few days would, however, not witness much protests in the Telangana region.
The N Kiran Kumar Reddy-led government in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday indirectly proved its majority in the House when Congress nominee Nandendla Manohar was elected the Speaker. In a division of votes, sought by the main opposition Telugu Desam Party, Manohar got 158 votes in a House of 294 while TDP nominee K E Krishnamurthy got only 90 votes.
Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday challenged at the YSR Congress President Y S Jaganmohan Reddy asking him to prove his might by parading the members of Legislative Assembly supporting him before Andhra Pradesh Governor ESL Narasimhan, before "dislodging the Kiran Kumar Reddy government".
The Kiran Kumar Reddy-led Congress government has defeated a no-confidence motion moved against it by the Telugu Desam Party by a margin of 38 votes after a marathon 16-hour debate in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Saturday held a high-level meeting to discuss the law and order situation in view of various agitation programmes planned by pro-Telangana groups in the next few days and the strike by government employees from August 17.
Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu on Friday launched an indefinite hunger strike demanding that the state and the central government immediately provide succour to hapless farmers and artisans who have faced the brunt of nature's fury in the last one year. The former Andhra Pradesh chief minister expressed serious displeasure over the relief measures announced by Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and demanded higher compensation.
As part of efforts to mollify the dissatisfied ministers, the chief minister has despatched ministers Aanam Ramanarayana Reddy and Kasu Venkata Krishna Reddy for talks with the rebellious ministers.
Two ministers --Vatti Vasantha Kumar and Komatireddi Venkat Reddy-- have already sent in their resignations to the chief minister. The ministers, who have been left seething after the allocation of portfolios, are now getting ready for a showdown with the chief minister at the first formal meeting of the new cabinet in Hyderabad on Thursday morning.
Vicky Nanjappa reports on the dilemma that the Andhra Pradesh government headed by Kiran Kumar Reddy faces in the wake of Congress legislators from Telangana deciding to quit their seats to press for a separate state.
Even as the top leadership of the Congress party in New Delhi was busy in confabulations to find a way out of the mess in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, its state government seems to be inching for a confrontation with the agitators.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy held meetings with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Sunday.
In a relief for the ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh, party members of legislative assembly from Telangana region on Monday ended their boycott of the ongoing budget session over the raging Telangana issue. The decision came following a meeting they had with Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and state Congress president D Srinivas in the assembly buildings.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Friday said the Centre would take a decision on the contentious statehood issue only after the eight recognised political parties in the state expressed their views on it.
The battle for a separate Telangana state has turned worse with the Andhra Pradesh government making it clear that it will do everything under the sun to restore normalcy but not yield to protestors' demands under pressure.
With the demand for the creation of a separate state of Telangana gaining momentum, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy met Congress President Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on Sunday and is understood to have discussed the contentious matter.
Andhra Pradesh Endowment Minister J Krishna Rao has resigned from the state cabinet in protest against the delay in the formation of Telagnana state.
The Andhra Pradesh government has for the first time admitted that suspecting Muslims in Mecca Masjid blast case was a mistake as the terror attack was handiwork of 'Hindu militants'. It has also promised to extend financial assistance to the Muslim youth who were falsely implicated in the case.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Thursday dismissed reports of divisions within the ruling Congress on the emotive Telangana issue and asked everyone to wait till the Justice BN Srikrishna Committee report on the statehood issue is released on Thursday.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Sunday night appealed to ruling Congress Members of Parliament from Telangana not to undertake their proposed fast on Monday for withdrawal of police cases against students, but the Parliamentarians rejected the request. "If the government withdraws the police cases against students by evening, it is fine. Otherwise, Telangana Congress MPs would go on fast from Monday. It is a Gandhian fast," said K Keshav Rao.
Fasting Telegu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu was shifted to the ICU of a hospital as his condition worsened further even as Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy appeared unwilling to accept his demand for enhanced compensation to rain-hit farmers.
Rebel Congress leader and former Lok Sabha member from Kadapa YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday declared that the Andhra Pradesh government's days were numbered. Jagan's 48-hour hunger strike in Vijaywada for the calamity-stricken has received support from over a lakh people and 20 Congress legislators. He told his supporters that they should be ready for a longer battle to ensure justice to the farmers, weavers and other weaker sections of the state.
Sources now confirm that Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of the late Chief Minister Y S Rajashekhar Reddy, will be contesting the Lok Sabha by-elections from the Kadapa constituency while his mother will fight from the same constituency in the assembly segment.
The Congress' top leadership decided to rally firmly behind the Kiran Kumar Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh as the party prepares to face the Telangana issue after an official committee submits its report on the statehood issue by this month-end.
Andhra Pradesh minister V Vasant Kumar, who sent his resignation to Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy allegedly dissatisfied over the tourism portfolio allocated to him, may take back his resignation.
Botsa Satyanrayana, a powerful Congress leader of the backward classes from north coastal Andhra went all out in attacking Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy at the cabinet meeting on Thursday evening in Hyderabad.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy sought to put up a brave face as he conducted a post-mortem on Friday of the results of the legislative council election from the Assembly quota.
A late night telephone call from Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy to Praja Rajyam Party president K Chiranjeevi has led to wide-spread speculation that his party legislators might be inducted into the Congress ministry to checkmate rebel Member of Parliament Y S Jaganmohan Reddy. The call from the chief minister, who is currently camping in New Delhi, to the PRP president indicated that the high command was in no mood to be accommodative.
With K Rosaiah stepping down as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, insiders say that Kiran Kumar Reddy, speaker of the Andhra Pradesh assembly, is the frontrunner of the post.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy's efforts to placate the Congress MLAs from Telangana to give up their agitation, as the Centre would make an announcement on the issue in the first week of March, failed to yield any positive result.
The Andhra Pradesh Congress has managed to put off the Telangana issue for a while following the Srikrishna Commission report. For the first time, legislators from the Andhra assembly misbehaved with each other at the start of the budget session.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Praja Rajyam Party chief K Chiranjeevi on Thursday met Governor E S L Narasimhan separately, amidst the speculation that the state is heading for President's rule.
Government officials said the company was likely to invest about Rs 2,000 crore during the first phase of the project. In all, it could be Rs 7,000-10,000 crore.
After the lifting of all the 1,667 cases booked against the participants of agitations in support and against the formation of a separate Telangana state, the Andhra Pradesh government was now seriously considering the demand for withdrawing the cases booked against the Muslim youth in Hyderabad and other places in the state.
J Prakash's unbeaten 115 in 52 balls and his unbroken opening partnership of 175 runs with Ajay Kumar Reddy (51 not out) helped defending champions India thrash Sri Lanka by 10 wickets and enter the final of T20 World Cup for the Blind at Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday.
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