Government is unlikely to set up another States Reorganisation Commission to look into the growing demands for creation of separate states in different parts of the country.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday rejected the Centre's reported move to go for a second State Reorganisation Commission on Telangana statehood issue and expressed helplessness if the agitation for the separate state took a violent turn.
Former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma has strongly advocated creation of Telangana and Vidarbha states and said the Centre should forthwith grant statehood to these two regions owing to the long pending demand.
The new social and political order calls for a reorganisation; but it is no guarantee for effective administration. We present a Business Standard debate where two experts have put forth their views.
Asserting that it won't compromise on the separate Telangana demand, Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Wednesday said a states' reorganisation commission, if appointed by the Centre to go into the issue of formation of new states, would not be acceptable to it.
Under attack over backtracking on its earlier decision on separate Telangana, the government may consider setting up a States Reorganisation Commission to go into demands for creation of new states.
Amid a grouping of political parties from Telangana stepping up its campaign for a separate state, Centre today said it had no plans to set up a second States Reorganisation Commission and ruled out imposition of President's rule in the state.
The much-awaited second State Reorganisation Commission might not see the light of day during the United Progressive Alliance regime. A significant section of the Congress leadership is not keen on setting up the panel to avoid fuelling the agitation for carving out a separate state of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh.
All India Congress Committee General Secretary and in-charge of Andhra Pradesh affairs Veerappa Moily on Wednesday said that the United Progressive Alliance government. is considering the formation of the second States Reorganisation Commission to look into the demand for a separate Telangana state and Vidarbha state.
In the backdrop of mounting pressure from pro-Telangana leaders within the party, the Congress, at a two-day brain-storming session on Friday night, pledged its commitment to set up a second SRC to examine the issue.
Hyderabad, which would be the joint capital of Telangana and the Andhra region for 10 years, could be modelled after Delhi where law and order is handled by the Centre, Congress leader Digvijay Singh has said.
"I am not talking about reorganisation of just Maharashtra but of all the states of the Indian Union based on the basis of population."
In an 85-page note to the Group of Ministers set up to look into the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister Kiran Reddy on Monday raised 36 crucial points why a separate state of Telangana is not desirable.
After many years of struggle and strife, Telangana has come to pass. Many lives have been lost and property destroyed because various governments at the Centre have had no defined policies for creating new states. There has to be a better way of "delivering" a state -- not by fasts, by threats or by violence unleashed by a "rent-a-crowd" but by a logical, democratic way of meeting the will of the people. Not the will of an egotistical leader who wants to establish one more political dynasty -- or one who equates state with caste.
In a television interview, Union minister Jairam Ramesh claimed that a state of UP's size was ungovernable
Ahead of the crucial Congress meeting on Telangana, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kirankumar Reddy on Friday met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and briefed her about the political situation in the state.
The Supreme Court and its committees, the two states and the central government must become objective and take the present and not just the past in mind.
Prime minister Manmohan Singh and several Congress leaders are against the formation of a separate state but are supporting the decision in the hope that it would win the party seats in the region. Renu Mittal reports
At the core of the issue is the national capital's unique status of a Union Territory that is administered by both the Centre and the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
'Four years ago, when Gadkari was BJP president, Fadnavis was president of the state BJP, I had gone on a fast unto death demanding separate statehood for Vidarbha.' 'They had come to meet me and promised that once the party comes to power at the Centre and in the state, we will get separate statehood.' 'Four years have passed, but no change is seen on the ground.'
The underlying tone of a call for separate Mumbai city is always seen as a class war and a linguistic war, says Neeta Kolhatkar
As the Rajya Sabha passed the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2014 on Thursday, giving birth to India's 29th state, Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt takes final stock of how it was accomplished.
Harsh Sethi, consulting editor of Seminar magazine, is an analyst who is always lucid and sharp in his commentaries on human rights and development and issues related to politics or nation building. In a rare interview to rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt he spoke on the broader issues related to Congress party's endorsement to a separate Telangana state.
India's fear of small states derives from memories of Partition and the paranoid view that it will break up under 'too many' states. It's time to shed such fears and bite the 'states' reorganisation' bullet. India won't crumble under a few more Telanganas, Vidarbhas or Gorkhalands, says Praful Bidwai.
In his first interview after the announcement on Telangana, Jaipal Reddy spoke about the historical background of the movement, Narendra Modi and other issues.