As Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh remained shut on the second consecutive day in response to the 48-hour general strike call by the Telangana Joint Action Committee, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti has warned the Congress leaders of the region against any compromise with their central leaders.
In more problems for the Congress on the Telangana issue, a Congress and a Telugu Desam Party member on Thursday gave notices for a no-confidence motion against the Manmohan Singh government over its plan to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh.
YS Jaganmohan Reddy's YSR Congress party is appearing to be all set to emerge as a formidable political force breaching the Congress fortress of Andhra Pradesh.
The victory in the assembly elections, the first in Telangana after its formation in June 2014, might well act as a springboard for the leader, often accused of perpetuating family rule and promoting nepotism, to realise his ambition of playing a greater role in national politics.
The prevailing political ground realities in Andhra Pradesh read with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's statement in Lok Sabha on Wednesday make it clear that the central government appears to be in no hurry to take a decision on the contentious Telangana statehood issue.
Even as the pro-unified Andhra Pradesh leaders stepped up activity in New Delhi, Telangana seeking groups on Monday threatened to launch a "militant struggle" if their demand for a separate state was not conceded by January 28, "as promised" by the Centre.
Normal life was badly affected in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh as the 48-hour bandh called by Telangana Joint Action Committee in support of their demand for early introduction of a bill for formation of a separate state, began on Tuesday.
Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd made a number of electoral bond purchases close to the date of bagging crucial projects, including the all-weather Zojila tunnel that is being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 4,500 crore in Jammu and Kashmir.
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.
After a massive show of strength on Sunday, the Telangana Joint Action Committee has called off its agitation, laying the emphasis on the Andhra Pradesh government to take the matter forward.
President's rule was revoked after the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi evolved the Six-Point Formula for keeping the state united by offering safeguards to the people of these distinct regions.
The Centre on Thursday evening took the first significant step towards creation of a separate Telangana state from out of Andhra Pradesh and decided that Hyderabad will be the joint capital of the two states for 10 years.
Monday has been an eventful day in Andhra Pradesh politics with a majority of the elected representatives of Telangana region quitting their seats to press their demand for a separate state.
Leaders and activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti were taken into police custody on Friday while protesting against the central government's delay in giving approval for the creation of a separate state of Telangana.
Anti-Telangana activists on Sunday held protests on railway tracks here delaying at least two long-distance trains, the police said.
Amid sharp criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left Parties for deferring a decision on whether Andhra Pradesh should be split to create a separate state, Congress Party on Monday said the issue surrounding the Telangana statehood demand is a very sensitive one and a decision in this regard would be taken at an appropriate time.
The Andhra Pradesh government employees in Telangana region on Thursday undertook a relay hunger strike in Hyderabad in support of the statehood demand.
Dr Srinivas Raj, one of the leaders of the Telangana movement has prepared a ready reckoner on the issue. Raj along with several others has been distributing this booklet among the people of Telangana and convincing the people as to why this movement is important and how their lives would change once their state is given back to them.
Breaking the lull in their agitation, the pro-Telangana activists have called for a strike on September 5 to stall the Group I preliminary examinations of the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission. The bandh call has been given by the Osmania University Students Joint Action Committee to press its demand for a quota for the Telangana region in Group I jobs of the state government. Their stand is being supported by the Telangana Joint Action Committee.
A meeting of political leaders from Rayala Seema region, held to discuss the stand to be taken before the Srikrishna Commission on the issue of bifurcation of the state, has sent ripples among the supporters of united Andhra Pradesh. Senior Congress leader and former minister J C Diwakar Reddy has shocked the leaders from coastal Andhra region by suggesting that Rayala Seema should be a part of Telangana rather than Andhra.
Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu blamed the ruling Congress for the present state of affairs in Andhra Pradesh and asked the party to bail the state out of the crisis. "This has become such a complex issue that divisions have taken place in political parties. Congress is responsible for this and they should solve the problem," Naidu, on a tour of West Godavari and East Godavari districts in coastal Andhra, said at Tanuku.
The new TDP government will have to mop up over Rs 10,000 crore to fulfill the financial requirements for July, a retired senior bureaucrat said.
Home Minister P Chidambaram has assured Telangana Rastriya Samiti chief K Chandrashekhar Rao that all steps will be taken to create a separate state, but sought some time to act on the issue.During the meeting, the violent agitations going on in Andhra Pradesh in support of the Telangana movement were discussed, and the home minister told Rao that a new state cannot be carved out in the backdrop of such violence.
The Telangana issue is on the boil again. Other than creating national interest in the last few decades, not much has been spoken about the movement. That said the release of the book titled Telangana: The State of Affairs recently could not have come at a better time.
With the Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly rejecting the resignations of all members of legislative assembly from the Telangana region, the Congress MLAs are locked up in a meeting to decide on the next course of action.
Lok Sabha was adjourned till noon on Monday as Telangana Rashtra Samithi members raised slogans for Telangana statehood, a demand which was endorsed by Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj who asked the government to list the steps taken by it on the issue.
Heavy overnight rains severely affected parts of the city on Monday, leading to water-logged roads, inundated residential areas and traffic pile-up, as the city braces for more spells in the coming days.
Five MLAs - three from the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti and two from the Telegu Desam Party -- were suspended for seven days from the Andhra Pradesh Assembly for unruly behaviour during Governor E S L Narasimhan's address to the joint Legislature session. T Harish Rao, K Sammaiah, Vidyasagar (all TRS), A Revanth Reddy and P Mahender Reddy (both TDP) were suspended.
The Telangana High Court upheld a trial court's verdict handing out death penalty to five senior operatives of banned terror outfit, Indian Mujahideen, involved in a bomb blast that left 18 people killed in 2013. The court dismissed the criminal revision appeal filed by the IM operatives while upholding the NIA court's judgment. The five members, including IM co-founder Mohd Ahmed Sidibapa alias Yasin Bhatkal, Pakistani national Zia-ur-Rahman alias Waqas, Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi, Tahaseen Akhtar alias Monu and Ajaz Shaikh, were convicted in 2016. The special court for NIA cases here awarded capital punishment to five convicts treating it as a rarest of the rare case. The high court, after conducting a detailed hearing in the appeals filed by the convicts, confirmed the death sentence of the five IM operatives.
A strong view is now emerging -- at the top levels of the All India Congress Committee and the United Progressive Alliance government -- over the recent spat between state Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and Union Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy on the Gas pricing issue.
The GST Council on Saturday postponed a decision on cutting tax rate on life and health insurance premiums, officials said. The 55th meeting of the GST Council, chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprising state counterparts, decided that some more technicalities needed to be ironed out and tasked the GoM for further deliberations.
The demand for separate Telangana state got a further shot in the arm on Tuesday after all the 11 members of the Legislative Assembly from the Telangana Rashtra Samiti submitted their resignations taking the number of MLAs who have quit from the region to 93.
Vicky Nanjappa reports on the dilemma that the Andhra Pradesh government headed by Kiran Kumar Reddy faces in the wake of Congress legislators from Telangana deciding to quit their seats to press for a separate state.
After Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, petrol price has crossed the Rs 100-per-litre mark in Leh, in almost all districts of Andhra Pradesh and parts of Telangana after fuel prices were again hiked on Friday. Petrol price was increased by 27 paise per litre and diesel by 28 paise a litre, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. The hike - 18th in the last one month - took fuel prices across the country to a historic high. In Delhi, petrol hit an all-time high of Rs 94.76 a litre, while diesel is now priced at Rs 85.66 per litre.
With no decision on the Telangana issue yet, activists fighting for separate state have decided to take a more aggressive stand.
Addressing a press conference, Pawar said the trends of the assembly polls (in five states set to be held in November) suggest the situation is favourable for the opposition, but added he had no authentic information to comment on whether there would be a change (in government) at the national level.
In an embarrassment to Congress, five party Members of Parliament from Telangana on Monday launched a 48-hour sit-in at the main gate of Parliament against non-fulfilment of the promise by the United Progressive Alliance government to create a separate state out of Andhra Pradesh.
The issue of separate Telangana was raised on the opening day of the Budget session on Monday with about a dozen Congress MPs from Andhra Pradesh staging a dharna to protest absence of any mention of the issue in the President's address.
A decision on the sensitive and much-delayed Telangana issue may soon come from the Centre, the Congress indicated on Monday.
Grappling with the Telangana issue, Congress General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday met party chief Sonia Gandhi amid reports that an all-party meeting would be convened to find a way out to the statehood demand.
