Opposition parties on Thursday slammed the central government for not taking prompt action on Justice B N Srikrishna's recommendations on resolving the Telangana issue.
Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and is understood to have submitted a report on his consultations with party lawmakers from Andhra Pradesh on the Telangana issue, amid mounting pressure for an "early decision" on the statehood demand.
Asaduddin Owaisi, the member of Parliament from Hyderabad, talks to Sheela Bhatt about his worries over the way Telangana is being created.
Sixty-eight Rajya Sabha members, including nine Union ministers, are completing their tenure this year, triggering a race of sorts among leaders across political parties to eye a six-year term in the Upper House of Parliament.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former president M Venkiah Naidu on Thursday welcomed the Centre's decision to move a resolution for the creation of Telangana state in the Andhra Pradesh assembly, saying smaller states could be better administered.He added that the demand for Harit Pradesh in western Uttar Pradesha, raised by Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Chaudhary Ajit Singh, and Gorkhaland in West Bengal raised by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, will be strengthened.
Posters have been found on the OsmaniaUniversity campus asking youngsters to join an "armed struggle to achieve Telangana state," prompting police to launch a probe into it.
In a big organisational rejig, the BJP named Union minister G Kishan Reddy, Sunil Jakhar and Babulal Marandi as party presidents in Telangana, Punjab and Jharkhand respectively.
Congress leaders from Telangana region on Tuesday refuted former Andhra Pradesh governor N D Tiwari's comments that protagonists of statehood were behind allegations of sex scandal against him, saying the remark further eroded his prestige.
Although both Telangana and Samaikyandhra agitators are still fighting over the status of Hyderabad, many builders are showing a keen interest on 'construction activity' in Vijayawada, said Giridhara Prasad Gupta, a real estate businessman.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi is said to have appeased two Telangana MP's who met her on Thursday on the Rayal-Telangana issue.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah may convene an all party meeting on Tuesday to evolve a political consensus on dealing with the Telangana agitation, as the state-wide protests threatened to spiral out of control on Monday.The government is also worried about the worsening health condition of Telangana Rashtriya Samiti leader K Chandrasekhara Rao, who has been on a fast to demand a separate Telangana.
Barring minor incidents, the 48-hour Telangana bandh called by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi demanding separate statehood for the region, remained largely peaceful on the second day on Monday.
The Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra re-entered Haryana on Thursday evening from Uttar Pradesh but he left for Delhi to meet his ailing mother Sonia Gandhi and will return next morning, a senior Congress leader said.
In a major success for Telangana supporters, the Andhra Pradesh government has decided to withdraw the cases booked against the agitators during the protests before the formation of the Srikrishna committee by the Centre.
With several leaders from the Seema-Andhra region waiting to defeat the Telangana resolution in the assembly, the Congress is exploring the possibility of imposing the President's rule in the state.
Dr Sangam Prithviraj, who leads the students at the Osmania University in Hyderabad, says that they were foolish to trust TRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao and that now all students in all the 10 districts of Telangana will take the movement forward themselves.
After being trounced in the recent state assembly polls, there is a growing demand from the Bharat Rashtra Samiti leaders and cadre to the high command to change its name to Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS).
Amid pressure from various quarters for an early decision on the creation of a separate state of Telangana, the government on Saturday said more consultations with various parties are needed on the contentious statehood demand and the exercise would take "some time" to end. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and political secretary to Congress president Ahmed Patel discussed the situation in Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh.
Congress leaders from Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh have become hyperactive ahead of the December 9 deadline they have set for the high command even as Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has been called to New Delhi later this week.
Earlier, TRS and TDP MLAs disrupted Governor ESL Narasimhan's speech on the opening day of the assembly's Budget session. They tried to tear his speech copy and climbed on the podium.
If the government chooses bifurcation it is likely to add two Rayalaseema districts -- Anantpur and Kurnool -- to Telangana, and Kadapa and Chittoor to Andhra. Vicky Nanjappa reports
With the situation in Telangana going out of control, the Centre is left with only two options -- impose President's rule or appoint a new chief minister from Telangana region to replace Kiran Kumar Reddy. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Thursday's crucial meeting on Telangana to discuss the Shri Krishna Commission report is expected to be mired in another controversy with some political parties deciding to boycott it.
As Congress lawmakers from Telangana stepped up pressure by tendering their resignation, the Centre on Monday said it had not taken a final decision on the 'extremely sensitive and complex' issue of separate statehood.
Widespread protests broke out in non-Telangana regions observing a day-long bandh on Friday to protest the division of the state with agitators damaging buses, staging demonstrations and resorting to road blockades.
Supporters of the Telangana movement are celebrating the results of the by-polls held in Andhra Pradesh. The Telangana Rashtra Samiti has swept the by-polls and pro-Telangana activists claim that the election result is an open message to the Shri Krishna Commission.TRS general secretary Subhash Reddy said, "I am elated.The Shri Krishna Commission doesn't need better proof of the people's sentiments about the issue. This result is an open letter to the commission."
All Party Telangana Joint Action Committee has set the deadline of Monday evening for all the Members of Andhra Pradesh assembly of Telangana region to submit their resignations and quit the assembly in protest against the Srikrishna committee.
As Andhra Pradesh heads for by-elections in 10 Assembly seats, a sort of mini- referendum, whether the people of Telangana region want a separate state or not- region's politics is all set for a major realignment of forces.
Amid fresh violence over Telangana in Andhra Pradesh, Congress on Wednesday appealed for calm and normalcy but refused to say whether any mechanism for its creation will be announced by January 28, a deadline set by those agitating for the separate state.
States are on track of fiscal consolidation with their total borrowings reaching Rs 5 trillion till October, which is 60 per cent of the projected borrowings of Rs 8.38 trillion till December 2024, according to data from official sources. Government officials said the lower-than-projected borrowings by states were a sign of prudent fiscal management by them. States announce their borrowing plans every quarter.
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.
The issue of separate Telangana could cast a shadow over the All India Congress Committee meeting on Friday with Congress leaders from Seemandhra region on Thursday threatening to hold a dharna outside the venue over denial of entry to them.
The Telugu Desam Party on Friday stuck to its stand on the contentious Andhra Pradesh bifurcation issue by supporting formation of a separate Telangana state.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay tabling of the Telangana Bill in Parliament, saying it did not want to interfere at this stage.
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.
Keeping the Congress on tenterhooks on their strategy during the crucial Foreign Direct Investment vote on Wednesday, eight party MPs from Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday boycotted a meeting called by party floor leaders in Parliament to seek their assurances on participation in the debate.
The Telangana Rashtra Samiti, which has spearheaded the movement for a separate state in Andhra Pradesh, is furious over the Centre's apparent backtracking over the issue.In an interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, TRS general secretary Subhash Reddy states that the party is willing to give the government some time to resolve the issue, but will rest only after they 'get their state back'.
