Anita Katyal explains why the Congress party is virtually in a Catch-22 situation in politically significant Andhra Pradesh over the sensitive Telangana issue.
'We don't have to go abroad for anything.' 'Anyone who thinks we have a lot to learn from the US needs to have his head examined.' 'We are in a new era.'
The Communist Party of India-Marxist has decided to support the Telugu Desam Party in the May 29 by-polls in Andhra Pradesh.
Twenty people were gunned down in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district in a police operation said to be against red sanders smugglers that came under severe attack from the government and political parties in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, which claimed 12 victims were labourers from their state.
Telugu Desam Party President N Chandrababu Naidu has appealed to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy to immediately remove the tainted ministers who allegedly have links with the liquor mafia.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi is all set to move a No-Confidence Motion against the ruling Congress government in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah will be visiting New Delhi on Wednesday amid mounting pressure on the Congress to resolve the Telangana issue.
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.
The K Rosaiah government in Andhra Pradesh finds itself under immense pressure from not only Opposition parties but also a section of Congress leaders to find out an early solution to the Telangana crisis.
Serious trouble is brewing in the ruling Congress party against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy as a fall out of the ongoing probe by the Anti-Corruption Bureau in the alleged nexus between some ministers and the powerful liquor cartels across the state.
The party's decision to pullout from the Centre and the Andhra government will spell big trouble for the Congress. Mohammed Siddique reports
The parties which gave chief ministers and sent scores of MPs to Parliament, drew a blank this time.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy on Tuesday held discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on the issue of Telangana.Reddy, who was called to the capital by the Congress high command on Monday, is understood to have briefed Dr Singh about the prevailing political and law and order situation in the state.
In an unprecedented action in state legislature history, Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar on Friday night disqualified 16 MLAs of ruling Congress who had voted against the party government during a no-trust motion in December last year sailing with expelled Congress leader Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.
Meanwhile, the AP CM said that the TDP is ready to bring no-trust motion against Centre as last resort.
Kerala Chief Minister and CPI-M leader Pinarayi Vijayan, Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu, West Bengal CM and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, and Karnataka CM Kumaraswamy lent support to the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party government's fight with the Centre.
Nitish slammed the opposition and expressed confidence that they will be defeated in the next Lok Sabha elections.
With many of its plans to break the impasse over the Telangana issue coming unstuck, the Congress is now reportedly toying with the idea of moving a resolution on the statehood demand in the next session of Andhra Pradesh assembly.
Reddy assured her that an investigation would be conducted again into the University of Hyderabad student's suicide in 2016 and that justice would be done, an official release said.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday elicited the views of their junior cabinet colleagues and Congress leaders from Andhra Pradesh on the Telangana statehood demand, which has virtually divided the party on regional lines.
The Karnataka government on Wednesday put the reservation bill for Kannadigas in private firms on hold amid fierce criticism from business leaders and tech tycoons.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah on Wednesday resigned ahead of the Congress Legislature Party meeting in Hyderabad.
'It is a fiercely fought battle, like our fiery chillies in Guntur.'
'The longevity of the government is a doubt for me because when the going gets tough, there could a be a point in time where there might be pressure, from within the party or from the allies.'
'If the BJP detoxifies the nuclear liability law, it will bring economic, environmental and, most of all, strategic benefits.' 'Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that this Budget promise is met soon -- ideally, before Mr Modi heads to his first meeting with Trump 2.0,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
Reddy faced the biggest challenge of his political life in 2015 when he was allegedly caught on camera trying to bribe a nominated MLA to vote in favour of the TDP in a legislative council election.
For renomination to the Rajya Sabha, Nadda will have to look for a seat outside his home state of Himachal Pradesh as the Congress is in power there.
The no-confidence motion moved by the opposition Telugu Desam against the N Kiran Kumar Reddy-led Congress government in Andhra Pradesh is by no means of only academic interest. Though the government is unlikely to fall -- as the numerical strength of the ruling and opposition parties suggest -- the outcome of the division on the motion is likely to have a far reaching impact on the politics of the state.
Spurred by the spectacular victory of the YSR Congress in the by-elections, many ruling Congress members of Legislative Assembly and main opposition Telugu Desam Party are believed to be keen to join the Jaganmohan Reddy bandwagon in Andhra Pradesh but he is said to wary of taking all of them.
The development amid the crisis in the state over the Telangana statehood issue triggered demands that the 86-year-old Governor resign or be dismissed and also protests by women activists outside the Raj Bhavan where security was beefed up after the private Telugu channel aired the footage.
In Maharashtra's 288-member assembly, the share of legislators with college degrees increased over the past decade.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy is in New Delhi to seek Congress High Command's advice on the fate of ministers who are under CBI scanner in connection with disproportionate assets case against Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.
After being summoned, the minister appeared before the agency which questioned him regarding the Government Orders (GOs) issued during 2004-09 by the Irrigation Department, when he was the major Irrigation minister in the cabinet of late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, on supply of water to manufacturing plants of some cement firms. These firms allegedly made investments in Jagan's businesses.
The opposition on Sunday asked the Centre to allow discussions in the Parliament on the United States prosecutors' bribery charges against the Adani Group even as Union minister Kiren Rijiju made it clear that the matters to be taken up in the two Houses will be decided by their authorised committees with the consent of the respective Chair.
There seems to be no respite for YSR Congress chief Jaganmohan Reddy as the Andhra Pradesh high court on Wednesday rejected his bail plea in the disproportionate assets case.
Singh targeted the Congress using a 'snakes and ladders' analogy, saying the party will fall to zero from 99 after being bitten by a snake -- referring to the grand old party winning 99 seats in the Lok Sabha polls.
High drama was witnessed in Lok Sabha on Thursday as an exasperated government brought a motion to suspend 11 members from Andhra Pradesh, including seven from Congress, for protesting over Telangana issue, but an aggressive opposition scuttled the move.
Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar on Saturday issued notices to nine Congress and as many Telugu Desam Party MLAs on petitions seeking their disqualification for voting in favour of the no-confidence motion against the Kiran Kumar Reddy government.
If the party's members aren't sure what it stands for, see no path to wealth or power, and endure control by a dynasty, which, almighty as it is within the party, cannot get them the votes, they are likely to explore options, notes Shekhar Gupta.
