Seeking to allay concerns of Seemandhra, the government on Thursday said it has no intention to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh at the cost of one region and would do needful for overall prosperity of the residual state.
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.
Normal life was crippled in Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions today as united Andhra Pradesh supporters, including TDP, YSR Congress, observed a bandh against the Union Cabinet's approval of the draft Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation bill.
The Centre on Thursday sent the controversial Telangana Bill to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, setting a six-week timeline to approve the proposal to bifurcate the state.
Contrary to earlier expectations, the Telangana bill will now be introduced in the Lok Sabha first instead of the Rajya Sabha with the government seeking a fresh recommendation from the President after the Upper House secretariat held it is a money bill.
Union Minister of State for Commerce Daggubati Purandeswari on Saturday indicated that Congress ministers and Members of Parliament from Seemandhra would vote against the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill-2013 in Parliament if the Centre did not concede to their demands over protecting the interests of people of their region.
Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday expressed hope the Andhra Pradesh legislative Assembly will send its decision on draft Telangana bill before the timeframe set by the President for the process to be carried forward by the Centre subsequently.
A controversial bill which paves the way for the Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh by merging some villages and mandals of Telangana with Seemandhra was approved in the Lok Sabha on Friday, amid stiff opposition from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the Biju Janata Dal and some other parties.
Telangana is facing a day-long bandh on Saturday called in protest against the passage in Lok Sabha of a Bill to transfer some villages of the newly-created state to Andhra Pradesh to aid the construction of the Polavaram project.
The suspense over the controversial bill continues as the BJP insists that it was not introduced as Lok Sabha witnessed its stormiest proceedings ever.
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.
Amid continued disruption of Parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has invited top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders for dinner on February 12 to seek their support for the passage of the crucial Telangana bill and other anti-corruption legislations in Parliament.
A day after Parliament passed the Telangana Bill, Centre today started the process of division with the Department of Personnel and Training setting up two committees for allocation of civil services and state government officials to the two Telugu speaking states.
Raising the pitch of his attack on Centre, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy today challenged it to place the AP Reorganisation Bill 2013 in Parliament in the same form it was referred to the state Legislature.
A bandh called by the YSR Congress, Telugu Desam Party and other anti-Telangana political parties is being observed in Seemandhra region of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday to protest against the passage of the AP Reorganisation Bill-2013 in the Lok Sabha.
'I am disappointed by all political parties; they have all let down the people of Andhra Pradesh,' TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu tells Rediff.com's Anita Katyal
Adopting an aggressive stance and seeking to push the Centre on the defencive, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Saturday questioned the very validity of AP Reorganisation Bill-2013 saying it was violative not only of parliamentary procedures but also the Constitution of India.
Chances of holding early assembly polls in Telangana and Seema-Andhra, along with the Lok Sabha elections, seem unlikely, says Renu Mittal
As many as 40 pro-Telangana students were on Tuesday taken into preventive custody in different parts of the city even as tension prevailed on the Osmania University campus with the protesting students indulging in stone throwing on security forces.
Andhra leaders are readying for a stormy session over Telangana tomorrow. Vicky Nanjappa reports
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
Terming the rejection of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation-2013 Bill by the state legislature as the Brahmastra (a mythological weapon of great power), Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has expressed confidence that President Pranab Mukherjee would take into consideration that matter before sending the bill to the Parliament.
The UPA managers feel the remaining phase of the Winter Session of Parliament, which will be dominated by the Telangana issue, may actually end up as a repeat of previous sessions. Anita Katyal reports.
The extended Winter session of Parliament got off a stormy start on Wednesday with uproar over the Telangana and caste-reservation issue stalling proceedings.
As the extended Winter Session of Parliament entered its third and last week on Monday, the Telangana issue continued to disrupt Rajya Sabha leading to its adjournment for the day.
Lagadapati Rajagopal, now being referred to as the 'pepper spray member of Parliament', is holding talks with Andhra Pradesh's caretaker Chief Minister Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy about floating a new political party.
While the United Progressive Alliance government is preparing to ignore the protests from anti-Telangana members of Parliament and push through the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill in Parliament on Tuesday, the Congress' grim internal assessment is that the move may not pay the requisite electoral dividends which it had originally hoped for, says Anita Katyal
However, the Telangana statehood was not even on the agenda of the assembly which reconvened on Thursday morning.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday night gave the go-ahead for the creation of a 10-district Telangana and outlined the blueprint for carving out the country's 29th state from the current Andhra Pradesh.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Tuesday refused to get drawn into the debate of the "original and final" AP Reorganisation Bill-2013 even as he wrote to the President seeking extension of deadline for discussing and returning it.
The government on Thursday said it will go ahead with its decision to create Telangana despite protests in the Seemandhra region, but remained non-committal on imposition of the President's rule in Andhra Pradesh.
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.
It is likely to take at least six months for the proposed new state of Telangana to see the light of the day as the move involves a number of steps, including adoption of state re-organisation bill by Parliament by a simple majority.
Sheela Bhatt lists ten quick takeaways from the passage of the Telangana bill in the Lok Sabha.
Legislators from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions did not allow the Andhra Pradesh assembly to transact business when the winter session resumed on Friday as they remained firm on their demand that the Centre drop the move to bifurcate the state.
As the Rajya Sabha passed the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2014 on Thursday, giving birth to India's 29th state, Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt takes final stock of how it was accomplished.
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.
Leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley speaks on the debate on the Andhra Pradesh (Reorganisation) Bill, 2014
The Union home minister said he firmly believed that Article 370 that gave the special status to Jammu and Kashmir should be removed as it was not beneficial to the country.
Since Parliament is still in session, the government refrained from making an official statement but the ministers said there were ample 'precedents by the Congress governments in the past' of Bills being pushed through the ordinance route.
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