A series of protests continued in the Seemandhra region of Andhra Pradesh for the sixth consecutive day on Monday against the Congress and the United Progressive Alliance's decision to bifurcate the state for creation of Telangana.
A day after 16 YSR Congress MLAs and one from Congress announced resignations in support of united Andhra Pradesh, two more ruling party legislators from non-Telangana regions today said they would also quit as the central leadership moves towards a decision on statehood.
The Seemandhra Lawyers Joint Action Committee on Thursday said about 18 lakh cases were pending in various courts in 13 districts of Seemandhra as their protest against the Centre's decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh entered 100th day today.
Normal life remained paralysed for the second consecutive day in the 13 districts of the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of the state following the bandh call by Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers and YSR Congress against the tabling of the Telangana bill in Lok Sabha.
Agitating against the decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh, Samaikyandhra supporters on Tuesday continued with their week-long protests across coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Tuesday hoped that the Centre would soon take an appropriate decision on the Telangana issue in the best interests of the state and country.
The Centre on Thursday sent the controversial Telangana Bill to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, setting a six-week timeline to approve the proposal to bifurcate the state.
YSR Congress party chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy will meet Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday evening in Lucknow, to garner political support for a united Andhra Pradesh.
The YSR Congress Party headed by Jaganmohan Reddy has written to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy urging him to call for an urgent assembly session to defeat the proposal to divide the state and carve out a separate Telangana.
The minorities and Dalits, who constitute 40 per cent of the Telangana population, are now saying that they will prefer to remain in a united Andhra Pradesh rather than have a Telangana which is controlled by "communal forces", reports Vicky Nanjappa
The coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions continued to simmer on Friday with protests continuing unabated over the Congress' decision to divide Andhra Pradesh.
Protests against the decision to divide Andhra Pradesh rocked Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions for the second day on Thursday, with united Andhra supporters taking out rallies and preventing public transport buses from plying.
The ongoing battle in Seema-Andhra is clearly between the Telegu Desam Party and the YSR Congress. Both parties are doing their best to seize the advantage and the misery of the Congress which is now being accused of splitting the state. Vicky Nanjappa reports
As the Congress and United Progressive Alliance government appear to be veering towards formation of a separate Telangana state, ministers and MPs from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday opposing any division of Andhra Pradesh.
Parakala Prabhakar, spokesperson of the Visalandhra Mahasabha, tells Aditi Phadnis that those in favour of a separate state need not be the well-wishers of Telangana.
After Telangana, it is the turn of the Andhra and Rayal Seema regions of Andhra Pradesh to rise up in defiance against the latest developments for the formation of a new state. In reaction to the resignations by Members of Legislative Assembly and Members of Parliament of Telangana, students of the other two regions have also started mounting pressure on elected representatives to tender their resignations to press for an united Andhra Pradesh.
The Andhra Pradesh government on Monday announced the withdrawal of 565 cases against 2,436 students, who had been booked in connection with pro-Telangana protests and demands for an united Andhra Pradesh. But pro-Telangana parties are not satisfied as the government has not withdrawn the cases of serious offences including violence and destruction of private property.
President's Rule imposed in united Andhra Pradesh was revoked partially on Monday to facilitate swearing in of a government in the newly-created Telangana headed by TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao.
With key UPA allies -- the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Trinamul Congress and Nationalist Congress Party members -- clearly expressing their resentment to a new state, sources say the Congress is now looking to find a way out of the situation.
Muslims in Hyderabad, who constitute 41 per cent of the population in the metropolis, do not want a separate state of Telangana to be created, the Srikrishna panel said noting that they would feel more secure in the larger state of united Andhra Pradesh.
The leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj declared the Bharatiya Janata Party's support for the Telanagan movement on Saturday.
Praja Rajyam president Chiranjeevi lacks sympathy for Telangana though he says that he is equally concerned about all regions of Andhra Pradesh, TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao has alleged.
President Pranab Mukherjee created a flutter in the Congress party by agreeing to meet 40 Congress MLAs from Andhra Pradesh.
Even as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and others celebrated the Centre's announcement to initiate the process for carving out a separate Telangana State, over 200 people were taken into preventive custody on Thursday after widespread protests in Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions of the state.
Now that the Telangana state has taken birth with a chief minister at the helm, Vicky Nanjappa / Rediff.com gives a lowdown on the changes that people, who were once part of the united Andhra Pradesh, will go through
Film star-turned-politician and Praja Rajyam Party chief Chiranjeevi on Thursday announced his resignation from the state assembly in protest against the decision of the Central government to start the process for the formation of Telangana state by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh.
In a major political development, Praja Rajyam Party chief and Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi resigned from the state assembly on Thursday, in a bid to throw his weight for a united Andhra Pradesh.
Widespread protests broke out in non-Telangana regions observing a day-long bandh on Friday to protest the division of the state with agitators damaging buses, staging demonstrations and resorting to road blockades.
A meeting of political leaders from Rayala Seema region, held to discuss the stand to be taken before the Srikrishna Commission on the issue of bifurcation of the state, has sent ripples among the supporters of united Andhra Pradesh. Senior Congress leader and former minister J C Diwakar Reddy has shocked the leaders from coastal Andhra region by suggesting that Rayala Seema should be a part of Telangana rather than Andhra.
The Centre on Friday announced seven-point terms of reference for the Telangana committee, saying the panel will consult all sections of people in Andhra Pradesh, especially political parties, on the demand of a separate state. The five-member committee, headed by Justice (Retired) B N Srikrishna, will "examine the situation in Andhra Pradesh with reference to demand for a separate state of Telangana as well as the demand for maintaining the present status of united AP.
The Andhra Students Joint Action Committee, which is opposing the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh has called for a day's strike in all the educational institutions in Andhra and Rayala Seema region on Monday. The call was given in protest against the police stopping Guntur to Hyderabad Padyatra (walk) by a group of students of Acharya Nagarjuna University in supported of a united Andhra Pradesh.
The general strike called against the ongoing Telangana agitation in Andhra and Rayalseema region turned violent at many places on Monday. The bandh called by the all party Joint Action Committee in favour of united Andhra Pradesh hit the normal life in all the 13 districts of the two regions.
In a bid to find a way out on the Telangana issue, the Centre and the Congress on Tuesday began hectic consultations with MPs from Andhra Pradesh, a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said a decision would be taken soon to "bring everything in order".
Lagadapati Rajagopal, 45, an industrialist-turned-politician, is a second term member of the Lok Sabha from Vijaywada constituency -- the commercial capital of Andhra Pradesh.
The police are on the look out for Congress Member of Parliament L Rajagopal, who escaped from a city hospital where he was admitted after being brought from a hunger strike site over the Telangana issue.
The West Bengal government arrested Binay Tamang, one of the top leaders of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha and a member of its central committee, around midnight on Wednesday.
The issue pertaining to the formation of a separate Telangana state is expected to heat up further with two major meetings scheduled for February 7.
Dr Srinivas Raj, one of the leaders of the Telangana movement has prepared a ready reckoner on the issue. Raj along with several others has been distributing this booklet among the people of Telangana and convincing the people as to why this movement is important and how their lives would change once their state is given back to them.
Even as all eyes were focused on the high drama involving Vijaywada MP L Rajagopal, many other leaders continued their indefinite fast in support of United Andhra Pradesh at as many 49 places across coastal Andhra and Rayala Seema regions.
The assertion comes amid speculation that the ruling party in Andhra Pradesh might rethink its ties with the BJP in view of its disappointment over allocation of funds to the state in the Union Budget.
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