Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy said that the new body would be created as a statutory entity to decide the level of backwardness in each of the state's 23 districts and its three major regions -- Telangana, Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra. Without directly referring to the demand for a separate Telangana state, Dr Reddy asserted that his government would set up the statutory board to recommend measures for accelerated development of the backward districts.
Replying to the debate on the motion of thanks for the Governor's address in the state legislative assembly, Dr Reddy said, "The incidents of bomb blasts at Mecca Masjid, Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat Eatery in Hyderabad were related to cross-border terrorism. Many innocent lives were lost in these incidents." "Al Qaeda, by clubbing the United States, Israel and India together unnecessarily, is targeting our country without any rhyme or reason," he said.
With the Congress leadership reportedly inching towards a favourable decision on Telangana statehood demand, a party member of Legislative Assembly and several YSR Congress legislators from non-Telangana regions on Thursday said they have "resigned" in support of united Andhra Pradesh.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna passed away at his residence in Bengaluru early Tuesday morning, his family said.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and his cabinet colleagues, barring two, from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions on Wednesday submitted "affidavits" stating their opposition to the proposed bifurcation of the state and rejecting the AP Reorganisation Bill-2013.
The Congress appears to be veering round to taking a call on the contentious Telangana statehood issue with party leader in charge of Andhra Pradesh saying consultation process is over and time for a decision has come.
The no trust motion tabled by the main opposition Telugu Desam Party against the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh was defeated in the State Legislative Assembly in the early hours of Thursday. The motion was put to vote by Speaker K R Suresh Reddy around 1.45 am after the House witnessed acrimonious debate over the motion for nearly 39 hours spread over the last three days.
TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, soon after recommending dissolution of the legislative assembly on Friday, had told reporters he would favour elections in February. That now looks unlikely.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi is said to have appeased two Telangana MP's who met her on Thursday on the Rayal-Telangana issue.
Terming as "very cruel" the way bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh was done, YSR Congress Party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Wednesday said that he has kept open all options on post-poll alliance.
Andhra Pradesh now stands top in producing engineering graduates, compared with any other state in the country.
Reddy was also asked to surrender his passport and not to leave his assembly constituency.
The Congress Working Committee is likely to take a final decision on the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh to create a state of Telangana on Tuesday.
Exigencies of electoral politics and individual ambitions often stoke family feuds and sibling rivalries.
Naidu was an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad activist during the Emergency and was arrested and jailed.
If the Congress is contesting fewer seats than ever before, the BJP is set to contest its highest-ever number of Lok Sabha seats.
Jaganmohan Reddy will be sworn in as chief minister on May 30.
A special Central Bureau of Investigation court on Monday dismissed the plea of YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, facing corruption charges, seeking further relaxation on his bail conditions by allowing him to visit other states.
Fifteen ministers from the Seema-Andhra regions, who have parked themselves in new Dehi, have said that they will submit their resignations to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy if an announcement to bifurcate the state is made.
Election to fill up 55 seats in the Upper House of Parliament was to be held on March 26, but 37 candidates have already been elected without a contest.
Hitting out at Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy for rejecting the AP Reorganisation Bill, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Thursday said the move cannot stop formation of Telangana.
Announcing that it would not strike an alliance in the upcoming state and Lok Sabha elections, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Friday released its first list of candidates for 69 of the 119 assembly seats in Telangana region along with its poll manifesto.
A top Home Ministry official said no note has been prepared yet to be placed before tomorrow's scheduled meeting of the Cabinet to be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Other prominent candidates among the 904 in the fray are Union minister Anurag Thakur, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad's daughter Misa Bharti.
Defending its three-capital decision, the government said since inception in 1956 the state had failed to integrate people from all regions, reports B Dasarath Reddy.
President Pranab Mukherjee has given his nod to the Telangana Bill, which is likely to be tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.
A farmer attempted to commit suicide in Kadapa on Wednesday by jumping from a two-storyed building opposing creation of Telangana out of the state of Andhra Pradesh.
In a bid to stall the formation of Telangana, leaders from Seemandhra region have decided to move the Supreme Court. This decision comes in the wake of a public interest litigation filed by the group on Friday which was admitted by the Andhra Pradesh high court.
From being the hand-picked choice of Sonia Gandhi as Andhra Pradesh chief minister to sitting on a dharna in Delhi against division of the state, Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy has turned from a Congress regional leader to a disgruntled rebel in his nearly 39-month tumultuous tenure.
While the BJP and the Congress have always supported the bill, opposition by other parties and demands from some for quota for backward classes within the women's quota have been key sticking points.
In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the BJP is looking to fill the Opposition slot and not aspire to occupy pole position.
Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh was on Tuesday appointed governor of Rajasthan as the Centre named three more Bharatiya Janata Party leaders for the Raj Bhavans in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa.
To adopt the January-December financial year cycle, the government needs to shrink the current financial year to three quarters and present the new annual budget to the state legislative assembly for its passage in December.
Certain provisions in the Andhra Pradesh (Regulation of Appointments to Public Services and Rationalisation of Staff Pattern and Pay Structure) Act, 1994, prevented the appointment of the badminton player as any recruitment in public service should only be through the AP Public Service Commission, selection committee or employment exchange.
The bill to create Telangana is likely to be introduced in Parliament on Tuesday.
The marathon polling process to elect the 18th Lok Sabha ended on Saturday with the seventh phase of elections witnessing an approximate voter turnout of 62.36 per cent, amid clashes between Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party supporters in Sandeshkhali and some other parts of West Bengal.
Notwithstanding Andhra Pradesh assembly's rejection of Telangana bill, a Group of Ministers on Tuesday cleared the draft legislation to be placed before the Union Cabinet on Thursday to pave the way for its tabling in Parliament.
The 26-member Cabinet, including the Chief Minister, has three women members; two from the Scheduled Castes and one from the Scheduled Tribes.
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