With the demand for the creation of a separate state of Telangana gaining momentum, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy met Congress President Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on Sunday and is understood to have discussed the contentious matter.
The BJP, which rules the Centre, is in power in Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and is all set to get Madhya Pradesh back and snatch Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from the Congress after today's vote count.
Thousands of people may have gathered at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday to attend a rally by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi but it remains to be seen whether the mammoth turnout will actually translate into votes for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Andhra Pradesh.
The decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh has "zero" electoral prospects and it will be a "death blow" to the Congress, Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has claimed.
Having ensured the passage of the Telangana Bill, Congress president Sonia Gandhi's main concern now is to see there is no tension in the state and that the decision is accepted amicably by the people of Seema-Andhra following reports of simmering anger in this region over the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
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.
With the TRS and TDP achieving majority in Telangana and Andhra respectively, the results reveal that both the states will have non-coalition governments. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
From royalty to a tea vendor-turned-politician's wife and from a first lady to a Bengali actress, the 18 Muslim women who treaded the hallowed corridors of power in the Lok Sabha are an eclectic mix, with each of them having an interesting backstory, but one common thread -- their path to power was always strewn with struggle and hurdles.
Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu on Monday began an indefinite fast in New Delhi to protest against the split of Andhra Pradesh, accusing the Congress of playing politics in view of the Lok Sabha polls, but remained ambivalent on Telangana.
EVMs were damaged on May 13 in seven polling stations in Macherla constituency, including in polling station number 202 where local MLA P Ramakrishna Reddy allegedly damaged an EVM.
'If you don't fulfil whatever they ask, you are in trouble.'
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy's mother Y S Vijayamma on Friday resigned as honorary president of YSR Congress party to stand by her daughter Sharmila, who is now heading the YSR Telangana party in the neighbouring state.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday assured Congress MPs from Andhra and Rayalseema regions that efforts were on to work out an amicable solution to defuse the situation in Andhra Pradesh in the wake of protests over announcement of a separate Telangana state.
Amdist claims of positive signal from the Centre over Telangana statehood, Congress leaders from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of Andhra Pradesh will meet the party high command in New Delhi on January 21 to press their demand for a unified state.
The victim was 35-year-old B Prashant Reddy, Venkat's close friend and business partner.
The deadlock in the Andhra Pradesh assembly is likely to end on Monday, when the Telangana Bill will finally be presented in the House.
The prospect of an upset worries the ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh as it faces a threat from a rebel candidate in the biennial election to Rajya Sabha slated for Friday.
Andhra Pradesh Minister for Infrastructure and Investment Ganta Srinivasa Rao on Thursday resigned from his post in the backdrop of mounting protests across Andhra-Rayalaseema regions against the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government's decision to bifurcate the state.
Is Chandrababu Naidu being in jail an opportunity? How will the TDP capitalise on it? Or will it implode with nothing more than a sigh?
The Opposition on Tuesday termed the Union Budget as a 'kursi bachao budget' driven by political compulsions and claimed that it ignored opposition-ruled states in a bid to 'appease' Bharatiya Janata Party's allies.
Chances of holding early assembly polls in Telangana and Seema-Andhra, along with the Lok Sabha elections, seem unlikely, says Renu Mittal
"A lot of injustice is being done to my ardent supporters like Konda Surekha (former minister who quit in protest against not making Jaganmohan chief minister) and Ambati Rambabu (former MLA who was suspended from party). I am unable to tolerate this. I don't know how long I will continue to be restrained like this," Jagan told a public meeting in Kakinada town.
Moving forward following the decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh, the Congress on Tuesday night appointed separate Pradesh Congress Committee chiefs for Seemandhra and Telangana.
It is a misconception that the Congress will gain politically if a separate Telangana is formed, feels Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal.
'It will split people and create caste clashes. Unity of people will be affected for the time being.'
Among the keenly watched contests are those involving former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj, UP) and Union ministers Giriraj Singh (Begusarai, Bihar), Nityanand Rai (Ujiarpur, Bihar) and Raosaheb Danve (Jalna, Maharashtra).
Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan has said that the laddu adulteration issue is just a tip of the iceberg and there are many more decisions taken during the previous regime that have to be investigated.
The Congress on Tuesday suffered a major upset in Himachal Pradesh at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Rajya Sabha elections which were marred by cross-voting in all the three states though it won three seats in Karnataka while the saffron party pocketed an extra seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Three of the fence-sitters rule fairly large states Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha that together send 63 members to Lok Sabha -- where the Congress or other opposition parties have been pushed to the margins.
'He was able to push the AIADMK to the background.'
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.
Days after he was booked for allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct in the run-up to Lok Sabha polls, popular Telugu actor Allu Arjun on Tuesday said he went to the Nandyal district to support his friend and Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party constituency candidate S Ravi Chandra Kishore Reddy but isn't affiliated to any political party.
The Supreme Court on Friday set up a five-member independent SIT to probe the allegations of animal fat used in preparing Tirupati laddus to "assuage the feelings of crores of people" while making clear that the court cannot be used as a "political battleground".
In a major set back to those opposing the state's bifurcation, the Andhra Pradesh high court has struck down a petition questioning the creation of Telangana.
Protesting against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, Congress MP from Rayalseema region Rayapati Samba Siwaa Rao resigned from the primary membership of the party on Friday while heaping praise on Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
India's opposition parties have sharply criticized the Union Budget, calling it inadequate to address the country's economic woes and accusing the BJP-led government of using it to woo voters in Bihar and Delhi ahead of upcoming elections. Leaders from the Congress, TMC, DMK, SP, and CPI(M) voiced their disapproval, highlighting concerns over inflation, unemployment, and the lack of substantial measures to support the agricultural sector and the poor. They also criticized the tax cuts for the middle class as insufficient and coming too late after years of high taxes and rising prices.
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.
This will be the third plenary of the decade-old party, and the first since it came to power in Andhra Pradesh three years ago.
'Chandrababu is wiser and a very good administrator.' 'Jagan is the opposite. He is not very wise, not a good administrator.'
