Congress lawmakers from Telangana met senior party leader and Defence Minister A K Antony on Tuesday demanding disciplinary action against Y S Jaganmohan Reddy for joining a Telugu Desam Party protest in Lok Sabha against the decision to carve out a separate state from Andhra Pradesh.
The fissures in the Congress over the Telangana issue came to the fore in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday when Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, along with some other party Members of Parliament, joined a Telugu Desam Party protest against the decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh. Jaganmohan, son of late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, even stormed the well of the House, joining the TDP members. The TDP members were carrying placards saying 'We want united Andhra Pradesh'.
Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday accused the Centre of stoking fire by announcing the "shocking decision" about creation of separate Telangana state and said the onus lay with it to douse it.
The ruling Congress party has emerged as the single largest party in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation by winning 52 of the 150 seats, results of which were announced on Thursday. However, the hopes of the Congress leaders of sweeping the elections and bagging two-third of the seats were dashed.
"To everyone worried about my safety, Id like to inform you that I am safe. Gods grace and the love, concern and blessings of the people of Andhra Pradesh will protect me. "Such cowardice will not dissuade me but only strengthen my resolve to work for the people of my state," Reddy tweeted upon his arrival in Hyderabad.
The political migrations to Praja Rajyam, floated recently by Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi, continued with former Telugu Desam Party minister K Vidyadhar Rao on Monday joining the party along with his followers.Rao, who held several key positions in TDP during his 25-year-long political career, was expelled from the regional party a few months ago for openly supporting Chiranjeevi and predicting that the matinee idol would become the next chief minister.
Former Jharkhand Chief Minister and Member of Parliament Babulal Marandi has extended support to the Third Front.In a letter to Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu, the prominent Jharkhand leader said he supported the Front, which was a non-United Progressive Alliance and non-National Democratic Alliance option. He said that he could not attend the Front's meeting in New Delhi due to prior poll-related commitments.
The Telugu Desam president and a leading figure in the third front N Chandrababu Naidu has ruled out the possibility of any body being projected as the prime ministerial candidate of the third front before the elections.
In a development, which can impact the fluid political situation in Andhra Pradesh to a great extent, an influential Dalit organization Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti, has decided to join the opposition' Grand Alliance led by the Telugu Desam party.
The populist promises made by former Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu for the forthcoming assembly elections will cost the state exchequer a whopping Rs 5,000 crore.The ruling Congress party has termed Naidu's promises a result of 'unimaginable frustration'. "He is so desperate to come to power that he is ready to make any promise to the people", said Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.
Former Chief Minister and Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu, who heads four-party Grand Alliance in Andhra Pradesh said with the announcement of election schedule, the countdown has begun for the Congress governments both in New Delhi and Hyderabad.
Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday late night met Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu at the latter's residence in Hyderabad.
Cracking the whip, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday summarily expelled eight of its MPs who cross-voted or abstained during the trust vote as shocked opposition parties got down to fix errant MPs whose actions helped the United Progressive Alliance government survive.
Even as the schedule of Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly polls is likely to be announced in a week's time, all the major political parties have already gone all out with sarcastic television advertisements targeting their rivals.
Telugu Desam president and former Andhra Pradesh chief miniser Chandrababu Naidu has dismissed the entry of former Indian cricket team captain Mohamemd Azharuddin as inconsequential and said that his joining the Congress party will not have any impact on the party.
This after most of the Opposition including the Congress, Left parties, the Trinamool Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Nationalist Congress Party decided to boycott House proceedings in protest against the suspension of eight MPs for the remainder of the session for unruly behaviour.
The Grand Alliance of four opposition parties -- Telugu Desam, Telangana Rashtra Samiti, the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India Marxist -- who have decided to make the alleged corruption of the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy-led Congress government the main issue in the coming assembly elections, on Friday demanded that the chief minister be prosecuted under the Prevention of Corruption Act. A delegation of the Grand Alliance leaders met Governor N D Tiwari.
The Andhra Pradesh assembly was on Wednesday plunged in turmoil after 46 Members of Legislative Assembly, including the Telugu Desam Party leader Chandrababu Naidu, were suspended from the House and clashed with the marshals leaving two MLAs injured.
Naidu, whose 150-day-long Mee Kosam Yatra entered the West Godavari district on Sunday night spoke to Rao for 15 minutes, well informed and reliable sources in the TDP said. Since Chandrasekhara Rao left the TDP in 2001 and launched the movement for Telangana and formed his own political party, it was first time that the two leaders spoke directly.
The Andhra Legislative Assembly witnessed noisy scenes and constant exchange of words between the ruling Congress and the TDP members through the 90-minute reply by the chief minister.
Prominent intellectuals, academicians, writers and activists from the Telangana region on Saturday urged former Telugu Desam Party leader T Devender Goud to work with organisations and groups that are already fighting for a separate Telangana state.
Even before the government of Andhra Pradesh could officially declare any part of the state as drought hit, the failure of monsoon has started taking a huge toll on the state's farmers.
Even as the political big guns including Chandrababu Naidu, Chiranjeevi and Pavan Kalyan are visiting different parts of the state to mobilize the support in favor of their respective political parties, another big star of Telugu films is all set to jump in to the fray, elevating the political din in the state to a new high.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Tuesday disqualified Telugu Desam Party MP M Jagannath, who defied a party whip and voted for the Congress-led United Progressive government in a trust vote He was diusqualified according to the Anti-Defection Law under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, a Lok Sabha release said.
Evangelist Anil Kumar aka Benjamin Komanapally's debut in Secunderabad bore all the hallmarks of a gala event. A sprawling parade ground packed with nearly 1.5 lakh people, a 250-member choir and guests including Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, his wife and only daughter.After it was revealed that Anil Kumar was the chief minister's son-in-law, the TDP and BJP demanded an inquiry into the source of funding for such large-scale publicity.
"Since you have referred to my son, I am mentioning about your wife," he said.
The ongoing tussle between the Andhra Pradesh government and a legislator of Opposition Telugu Desam TV Rama Rao over his alleged involvement in a case of sexual abuse took a curious turn on Saturday with five girls appearing before the state home minister and giving a statement against the MLA.
The TDP leader said the Congress-led government in Andhra Pradesh has failed on all fronts. He flayed the government for rampant corruption in the state saying that all the welfare schemes initiated by it were aimed to facilitate Congress workers only. Naidu said that Congress and Telangana Rashtra Samithi, which had fought the 2004 elections together, betrayed the people of Telangana after coming to power.
Breaking his silence on the Telangana issue, Kadapa Member of Parliament Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday said he stands for a united Andhra Pradesh and alleged that the Telugu Desam Party and its chief N Chandrababu Naidu were responsible for the current situation in the state.
Telugu Desam Party and Bharatiya Janata Party also extended their support to the bandh call given by the Left parties.
Congratulating Barack Obama on winning the United States presidential elections, Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu has promised to bring about a similar change in Andhra Pradesh in the next year's state elections.
The number of Congress MPs to resign to protest against the Centre's decision to carve out a separate Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh has gone up to three, while 90 MLAs from Congress, Telugu Desam Party and Praja Rajyam have also resigned. Two TDP MPs have also submitted their resignation.
In fact they had been expecting the defeat once the United Nationl Progressive Alliance decided to abstain from the election and not support Shekhawat.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday lambasted BJP and TDP for doing nothing for the country's farmers during the six years of National Democratic Alliance rule. Addressing a massive farmers' rally at Jaggampeta town in Andhra Pradesh after dedicating the first phase of the Rs 600-crore Thota Venkatachalam Pushkara lift irrigation project, Sonia questioned BJP and TDP's credentials to champion the cause of the farmers when these parties were out of power.
The BJP's bandh call, separately endorsed by the Maoists, was meant to mark protest against the delay in the formation of separate Telangana state by the Congress-led UPA government. However, the bandh evoked mixed response though the BJP leaders and activists went around the towns and cities across Telangana to enforce the call.
In the biggest policy reversal in its 26-year-long history, the Telugu Desam Party on Thursday announced its support to the formation of Telangana state by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh.
The son of Telugu Desam Party founder-president and legendary actor N T Rama Rao, Balakrishna will plunge into active politics on October 24 with the Yuva Garjana being organised by the TDP.
Eleven Telangana Rashtra Samithi members were suspended from the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly for obstructing its proceedings on Friday morning. It is the second time in two days that the TRS members have been suspended.
Without naming anyone, Modi at a Constitution Day event in the Central Hall of Parliament hit out at family-based parties, describing them as 'party for the family, party by the family' and added, 'I don't think I need to say anything more'.
As proof of the potential outcome, AIADMK sources pointed to the election of TDP's C M Ramesh to the prestigious PAC, which was enabled by the Opposition voting for him.
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