While the United Progressive Alliance government is preparing to ignore the protests from anti-Telangana members of Parliament and push through the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill in Parliament on Tuesday, the Congress' grim internal assessment is that the move may not pay the requisite electoral dividends which it had originally hoped for, says Anita Katyal
It is thanks to the policy of liberalisation conceived by Manmohan Singh and enforced by P V Narasimha that the Indian economy has now become the world's 5th largest economy by nominal GDP, asserts Dr Sudhir Bisht.
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 move comes a day after the government called a special session of Parliament between September 18 and 22, the agenda for which is under wraps.
"NCP president Sharad Pawar, Loktantrik Janata Dal president Sharad Yadav, DMK chief MK Stalin, Bihar's former deputy chief minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, SP president Akhilesh Yadav, BSP chief Mayawati and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal among other opposition leaders will attend the oath-taking ceremony in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh on December 17," said well-placed sources.
Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday. No other member of his cabinet took the oath as he will finalise his team after meeting party president Sonia Gandhi and other central ministers.
Hitting out at the Congress rule in Andhra Pradesh for its poor response to providing relief to rain-hit farmers, former Congress Member of Parliament Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday said the government would have to bid goodbye to power in the state if it neglected farmers."At least now, this government should open its eyes and rectify its mistakes. If it fails to become farmer-friendly, then I warn that the time has arrived for this government to go," he said.
A ministerial panel looking into the reasons for the Congress' poor performance at the recent bypolls on Wednesday discussed ways to effectively publicise the welfare schemes being implemented by the Andhra Pradesh government to reach out to the masses.
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.
Meanwhile, the AP CM said that the TDP is ready to bring no-trust motion against Centre as last resort.
With a significant number of Opposition leaders present at the swearing-in ceremony of the Congress government in Karnataka, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Sunday said Opposition unity requires much more than optics of this nature and stressed the need for meeting of minds, a common agenda and sacrificing partisan interests.
The Andhra Pradesh high court on Thursday dismissed the regular bail petition of YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy in connection with an alleged disproportionate assets case involving him. The AP high court had on December 24 dismissed the statutory bail plea of Jagan.
Chief Justice of AP High Court G S Singhvi administered the oath of office to the new governor at a simple ceremony at Raj Bhavan.
Congress General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday met several party leaders in Hyderabad, including some ministers of N Kiran Kumar Reddy government who were understood to have voiced their displeasure about the style of function of the chief minister.
Andhra Pradesh may go for a brief spell of President's rule with the Kiran Kumar Reddy government facing internal crisis with 25 to 30 MLAs planning to join YSR Congress headed by Jaganmohan Reddy.
In a clear message that the people of Telangana want a separate state, both the Congress and Telugu Desam Party were rejected by the electorate in the region, reports Mohammed Siddique
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and other senior party leaders, including All India Congress Committee general secretary Avinash Pande and spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, also moved to Jaisalmer along with the MLAs in five chartered flights.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Tuesday left for Delhi, where he is expected to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and possibly discuss an expansion of his cabinet and Telangana, among other issues. There has been speculation that the chief minister would induct only two legislators of erstwhile Praja Rajyam Party into his cabinet. It is speculated that the cabinet re-jig may take place anytime between January 21 and 28.
After Governor of Andhra Pradesh ESL Narasimhan emerged from a 45-minute meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, a source indicated that they both had held key discussions on the current political situation in the state.
Andhra Pradesh Health Minister Kondru Murali Mohan and Forest Minister Satrucharla Vijayarama Raju on Monday resigned from their posts protesting the proposed bifurcation of the state.
The Andhra Pradesh minister for information technology Komatireddy Venkatreddy told mediapersons in Hyderabad that he had not received the notice from the All India Congress Committee and will respond to it when he receives it.
The victory in the assembly elections, the first in Telangana after its formation in June 2014, might well act as a springboard for the leader, often accused of perpetuating family rule and promoting nepotism, to realise his ambition of playing a greater role in national politics.
Andhra Pradesh Roads and Buildings Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao resigned late on Tuesday night, a day after CBI named him as an accused in the disproportionate assets case against YSR Congress leader Jaganmohan Reddy.
The tumult in the ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh in the aftermath of the rout in the assembly bypolls continued on Friday, with some party leaders blaming Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy for the poor showing.
The force "never faced any problem with regard to participation of candidates due to language problems," the spokesperson said.
C R Kesavan, great grandson of noted freedom fighter and India's last governor general C Rajagopalachari, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday as the party aims to boost its presence in southern India.
In the first signs of political trouble in Andhra Pradesh's ruling Congress party, the state minister for women and child welfare Konda Surekha tendered her resignation to the state governor ND Tiwari on Thursday evening.
The strong Bharatiya Janata Party-Telugu Desam Party combine in Seema-Andhra could upset the calculations of the YSR Congress in the region, but the TDP's biggest problem is rebellion from within. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy, who will be listed in the history as the last chief minister of an "undivided" Andhra Pradesh, is likely to drop his plans to float a new political party.
Triggering a virtual rebellion against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, state Health Minister D L Ravindra Reddy on Thursday sent his resignation to Congress president Sonia Gandhi "taking moral responsibility" for the party's poor show in the by-elections.
On its own or with allies the Congress has a strong presence in states that account for a total of 253 LS seats, or 20 short of the magic figure of 272 required to form a government at the Centre. So what is Mamata Banerjee talking about, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
According to the officials, the funds to the Congress were sent by Hyderabad-based Megha Infrastructure and Engineering.
Congress Member of Parliament L Rajagopal, who had threatened to go on an indefinite hunger strike to oppose division of Andhra Pradesh, began his fast in Vijaywada on Tuesday.
Counting of votes in the crucial by-polls held in Andhra Pradesh for one Lok Sabha constituency and 18 Assembly seats began today amid tight security arrangements.
Leaders of several like-minded opposition parties are likely to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka chief minister-designate Siddaramaiah and deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday in Bengaluru.
Even if the BJP gets 60, 70, or even 100 per cent of the votes in the seats where it scored more than 50 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, these will still add up to only 224 seats, argues Shekhar Gupta.
The Andhra Pradesh Police on Tuesday stepped up security across the state saying they were well prepared to maintain law and order particularly in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions in the wake of the decision to create separate Telangana.
The elections will begin on April 19 followed by subsequent phases on April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.
Congress leaders from the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh claimed that they have an indication from the Union home ministry on creation of a separate state.
