Normal life remained crippled for the second day on Saturday in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions where a bandh is being observed to protest the Centre's decision to bifurcate the state.
The session will commence with the maiden address of President Droupadi Murmu to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament. The address essentially highlights the government's achievements and policy priorities.
Denying allegations of orchestrating the latest delay in the formation of the Telangana state, Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSR Congress is going all out portraying the Congress and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi as the real villains. Vicky Nanjappa reports
As many as 35 of 53 Nationalist Congress Party MLAs were present at the party meeting convened by Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in Mumbai on Wednesday, party sources said.
No time-frame can be fixed for solving the complex issue of Telangana statehood as it requires political consensus, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy said on Monday.The demand for carving out a separate state was under active consideration of the Congress high command, he said a day after the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, spearheading the statehood movement, received a huge setback in the by-elections.He said the Cong high command was trying to reach consensus.
What would Parliament be without these nine ladies?
The Congress virtually snubbed Andhra Pradesh MP Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy for his decision to go ahead with his controversial yatra, saying party discipline must be observed. "All true committed and loyal Congressmen must necessarily observe both the party dharma and Laxman rekha of propriety and party discipline," party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said.
'It is not just about numbers. Sometimes coalitions and alliances have symbolic value.'
YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy has resigned as Kadapa MP in protest against "unilateral and arrogant posturing" of Congress party on the proposed division of Andhra Pradesh but stopped short of spelling out his party's stand on the statehood issue.
'I asked him why were he and other writers being targeted.' 'I saw his point of view, that he and others being writers, their work was popular and well-appreciated by people, especially the youth.' 'This made the State fear them.'
Today, with the Lok Sabha polls only months away, any inter-state dispute over the Cauvery water dispute has the potential to take more political turns than otherwise, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Seven Congress MPs from the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh put off their decision on Tuesday to forward their resignation -- both from Lok Sabha and the party -- by a day, as they reportedly could not iron out differences among themselves on the issue.
The Supreme Court order which demands explanation from six Andhra Pradesh ministers for their alleged role in the disproportionate assets case against Jaganmohan Reddy has but the Congress in a fix, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
A team of doctors at NIMS, attending on the Kadapa MP, administered IV fluids after his health indicators including blood pressure and glucose levels dropped drastically, a NIMS official said.
Pawar said state Congress leaders Ashok Chavan and Balasaheb Thorat had met him and extended an invitation to participate in the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
By comparing I.N.D.IA. with banned terror outfits, Modi has exhibited the kind of nervousness never ever associated with him even at the height of the Gujarat riots, and certainly since his prime ministerial days, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Congress feels that the people of Telangana must agree to some sort of a compromise formula and once the statehood is announced then they would not argue too much on this issue. The Congress says it has to take care of the interests of each and every person and this is the best workable solution available to them
If Jaganmohan Reddy wins the Kadapa by-election, he may be able to destabilise the Congress state government in Andhra Pradesh. This may also have implications for the UPA government at the Centre, says T V R Shenoy.
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.
Lashing out at Congress President Sonia Gandhi for "playing with the lives of Telugu people" and "murdering democracy in broad daylight", YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Saturday called on Telugu people to give 30 Lok Sabha seats to his party in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections to stop the division of Andhra Pradesh.
A defeat in Assam would be bad news for the Congress which is in power in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur.
The conference was seen by many as a show of strength by the Opposition with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav joining in to raise their voice against oppression of backward classes.
The Andhra Pradesh assembly took up the marathon debate on the no-confidence motion tabled by the main opposition TDP against the Congress government. This is the first time that the present government is facing a no-trust motion even as it completes four years in power. The TDP attacked the Congress government for alleged acts of omission and commission.
As the elections appear closer, the nervousness in the Congress party has become more visible. Each one is frantically concerned about his own position rather than wanting the Congress party to get ready for a spirited fight.
With Andhra Pradesh assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar making a formal announcement in the House on Monday accepting the merger of Praja Rajyam Party with the Congress, the chapter of the Chiranjeevi-led party has come to an end in the political history of the state.
Key United Progressive Alliance ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party were on the same page on Sunday in their criticism of the Centre and the Congress over the handling of the Telangana statehood issue, which has spawned a crisis in Andhra Pradesh.
"People ask me why I am wearing this white T-shirt, don't I feel cold. I will tell you the reason. When the yatra began... in Kerala, it was hot and humid. But when we entered Madhya Pradesh, it was slightly cold.
Pushed to the corner by the deteriorating health condition of Telangana Rashtriya Samiti chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, the Congress on Wednesday night agreed to pass a resolution in the Andhra Pradesh assembly for the creation of a separate Telangana state, in a bid to defuse the current volatile situation. Addressing a press conference late on Wednesday night, Home Minister P Chidambaram said, "The process of creating a separate Telangana state will be initiated."
Elections will be held on June 10 to fill 57 Rajya Sabha seats from 15 states falling vacant due to the retirement of members on different dates between June and August, the Election Commission said on Thursday.
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.
Interestingly both parties in question are in denial mode, but reliable sources say that the offer to merge was made by the Congress.
The Congress party is upset with Jaganmohan Reddy's Odarpu Yatra and the axe is likely to fall soon. This fact came to light when a member of Parliament from Andhra Pradesh wrote to party president Sonia Gandhi about the structure of Reddy's proposed Odarpu Yatra (condolence tour) and the politics behind it
The draft bill, approved by the Union abinet, seems to be much more favorable to the wishes of the people from Telangana than it is for those from Seemandhra, says Mohammed Siddique
What some of our political leaders were up to on Monday.
In view of the Andhra CM's resignation from the post and the Congress, party president Sonia Gandhi has requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to grant special category status to the Seema-Andhra for five years. Renu Mittal reports
Amid the increasing pressure on the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy from the Central government either to end the crisis arising out of the indefinite strike of government employees or face the axe, crucial talks were scheduled to take place between the chief minister and the leaders of the Andhra Prasdesh Non Gazetted Officers Association on Wednesday.
Nath said the foot march will enter the central Indian state from Burhanpur district on Wednesday morning.
Jaganmohan Reddy, whose party has nine MPs, had already announced last month that his party parliamentarians would quit on April 6, at the end of the budget session, if the special category status was not granted.
Senior Congress leader from Andhra Pradesh G Venkataswamy, who caused a flutter demanding the resignation of Sonia Gandhi as party chief, could be shown the door. Indications to this effect were available with Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily, who is in charge of party affairs in Andhra Pradesh, saying that his "viciousness" in attacking Gandhi and his "arrogance" certainly warranted action.
An organisational portfolio in the Andhra Pradesh unit of the Congress party seems to be all that Y S Jaganmohan Reddy--son of late chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy--will get for the time being. Halting his aspirations of taking over the mantle from his father, the Congress high command has decided to continue with current Chief Minister K Rosaiah for the time being.