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.
However, the Telangana statehood was not even on the agenda of the assembly which reconvened on Thursday morning.
The Group of Minister, set up to look into the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, is all set to recommend special status to both the states under Article 371-D of the Constitution and examining a proposal to include two districts of Rayalseema in Telangana.
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.
Andhra leaders are readying for a stormy session over Telangana tomorrow. Vicky Nanjappa reports
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.
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.
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.
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.
Lok Sabha secretariat has sought an opinion from the Union law ministry whether the constitution needs to be amended to form a new state. Vicky Nanjappa reports
A bill to allow merging of some villages and mandals of Telangana with Seemandhra in a bid to deal with resettlement and rehabilitation those displaced by the Polavaram power project was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday amid din.
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.
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.
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.
Chances of holding early assembly polls in Telangana and Seema-Andhra, along with the Lok Sabha elections, seem unlikely, says Renu Mittal
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 Home Minister said creating a new state normally takes a period of eight to nine months but the central government would try its best to do it as early as possible.
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.
In a television interview, Union minister Jairam Ramesh claimed that a state of UP's size was ungovernable
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.
The extended Winter session of Parliament got off a stormy start on Wednesday with uproar over the Telangana and caste-reservation issue stalling proceedings.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Ministers from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, including Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, of Andhra Pradesh are likely to resign from their posts en masse as soon as the ongoing debate on the draft AP Reorganisation Bill-2013 concludes.
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.
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.
BJP leaders hit back at the DMK and asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi if he agreed with the insulting remarks of its Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partner against the north Indians.
Time is running out for a hapless UPA govt over the Telangana bill, and the latest observation by the Rajya Sabha secretariat -- that the bill has financial implications and so must be introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha first -- has only worsened the crisis for the ruling alliance. Anita Katyal reports.
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.
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.
Sheela Bhatt lists ten quick takeaways from the passage of the Telangana bill in the Lok Sabha.
Leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley speaks on the debate on the Andhra Pradesh (Reorganisation) Bill, 2014
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