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."
The decision about the high-powered committee was taken as the government apparently thought of taking one step at a time instead of hurrying things up in the face of growing resistance from farmers who gave their lands for the development of Amaravati as the new capital, under the previous government headed by N Chandrababu Naidu, reports Dasarath Reddy.
The BJP is focusing determinedly on the seats it lost in 2019, with the hope of winning these either independently or with the aid of its allies.
'Chandrababu is wiser and a very good administrator.' 'Jagan is the opposite. He is not very wise, not a good administrator.'
Asaduddin Owaisi, who was once the leader of a little-known outfit confined to the old city of Hyderabad, has emerged as a powerful voice of Muslims in the country in recent years.
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.
It will be the first address ever by a President to a state assembly.
Vicky Nanjappa, who has been reporting extensively on the Telangana state, will answer these and other questions, on the Rediff Chat at 4 pm IST.
Unidentified miscreants hurled a stone at the Chief Minister on Saturday night near Vivekananda School Centre in Vijayawada's Singh Nagar, which injured his left temple when he was canvassing for polls.
The Election Commission Wednesday decided to defer proposed by-polls to three Lok Sabha and eight assembly seats in view of the prevailing coronavirus situation in the country.
Andhra Pradesh may witness a spell of President's rule in the wake of the resignation of Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy.
Primarily the discussion will be on Satyam matters and also on ensuing parliament and state Assembly polls.
In an unprecedented rush for tickets, the Andhra Pradesh unit of the Congress has received as many as 8,000 applications for the 294 assembly seats in the state and 500 applications for 42 Lok Sabha seats. The sources said that the Congress party was planning to release the first list of candidates with 80 names for assembly polls and 15 for the Lok Sabha elections before the Election Commission issues the poll notification.
Vijayalakshmi, widow of the late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, was on declared elected unopposed from Pulivendula Assembly seat in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh. Election observer Manish Moudgil said Vijayalakshmi was elected unanimously from Pulivendula assembly constituency.
Politicians across the political spectrum graced Radhika Merchant and Anant Ambani's wedding ceremonies at the Jio World Convention Centre at the Bandra Kurla Complex in north west Mumbai.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has booked 16 individuals for posting alleged defamatory material against Supreme Court and Andhra Pradesh high court judges on social media, taking over investigations from the state CID, officials said on Monday.
A sizeable number of MLAs from across state assemblies cross-voted in support of President-elect Droupadi Murmu, defying their parties' stated support to Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha, sources said on Thursday.
The by-election was necessitated following the resignation of Pocharam in March this year. He had quit his assembly membership as well as the Telugu Desam Party on the statehood issue and joined the TRS.
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.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his cabinet colleagues Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, chief ministers of Nationalist Democratic Alliance-ruled states and prominent personalities from industry and Bollywood on Thursday attended the grand swearing-in of Devendra Fadnavis as Maharashtra Chief Minister in Mumbai.
The Group of Ministers, set up to look into the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, has completed the process of discussions with various stake holders and will submit its report to the Union cabinet as early as possible to pave way for tabling Telangana Bill in the winter session of Parliament.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has re-introduced the Special Public Security Bill in the state assembly, aiming to combat 'urban Naxalism'. The bill, which seeks to criminalize activities deemed to disrupt public order, has faced criticism from opposition parties who argue it could stifle dissent. The proposed law will be referred to a joint select committee for review and is expected to be passed in the monsoon session next year.
A party statement said the new national executive members are Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Deepak Prakash, Satish Punia and Sanjay Jaiswal, former BJP presidents in Telangana, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Bihar, respectively.
'It is a fiercely fought battle, like our fiery chillies in Guntur.'
T S Sudhir speaks to K T Rama Rao, TRS member of legislative assembly and son of party chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, on how the Parkal by-poll result will help the Telangana cause and the bitter political rivalry between his party and the BJP.
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 polling began amidst tight security in the by-elections to four Lok Sabha and 18 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday. While the by-elections to four Lok Sabha and 16 Assembly seats were caused by the en-masse resignation of Telangana Rashtra Samiti members on the issue of statehood for Telangana region, two other Assembly seats fell vacant following the death of sitting Khairatabad Congress Legislator P Janardhan Reddy in the city.
Trouble began when the Speaker disallowed adjournment notices on the multi-crore rupee scam relating to misappropriation of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan funds amounting to 40 crore.
As Andhra Pradesh braces to face a cyclone, political activity continues in the background. According to sources, two key leaders of the Congress -- Lagadapati Rajgopal and Rayapati Sambasiva Rao -- are in touch with YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy with an intention of joining his party.
With several leaders from the Seema-Andhra region waiting to defeat the Telangana resolution in the assembly, the Congress is exploring the possibility of imposing the President's rule in the state.
The rebellion against the Congress in Andhra Pradesh is out in the open. Last week, Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy openly called Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi deaf and dumb, and on Monday, six members of Parliament have decided to issue notice for a no-confidence motion.
It was a mixed bag for the many film personalities who contested the Lok Sabha polls in Andhra Pradesh. Of the twelve personalities from the film industry who had contested the elections, only four managed to win.
Over 60 per cent of the electorate exercised their franchise on Thursday in the by-election to the four Lok Sabha and 18 assembly seats,in Andhra Pradesh, widely seen as a referendum on Telangana statehood issue.The polling was largely peaceful barring stray incidents of clashes among political rivals.
The incident occurred at Tenali in Guntur district when the local YSRCP MLA A Siva Kumar attempted to jump the queue and was questioned by one of the voters. In a fit of rage, the legislator slapped the man, who did not hold himself back and returned the favour.
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.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwar Lal on Thursday ruled out the possibility of postponing the June 12 by-elections to one Lok Sabha and 18 assembly constituencies in the state saying the law and order situation was under control.
"We are preparing a note to pass a resolution in the Cabinet. After we finalise the note, it will be sent to the Law Ministry for legal vetting. I hope the note will be presented before the Cabinet within 20 days," Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told reporters in New Delhi on Monday.
While acknowledging that they needed strong allies for a chance in the assembly polls, AIADMK cadres seemingly prefer actor-politician Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam to the BJP, owing to the latter's 'communal agenda' and consequent hardline Hindutva image, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
