With Congress general secretary incharge of Andhra Pradesh affairs repeatedly making it clear that the decision to bifurcate the state and carve out Telangana was final, nearly half a dozen Congress MPs from Andhra and Rayalaseema region are likely to quit on Monday.
"No explanation can satisfy me," the Governor told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday evening, a day after making it clear that he would not remain a 'mute spectator' as he sought a report from the Pinarayi Vijayan government.
Cracking the whip, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Thursday suspended 18 MPs from Andhra Pradesh for rest of the session after unprecedented pandemonium broke out in the House over the Telangana issue.
'We are a national party that wants to remind people about Bharatiya sanskruti, which, at the moment, is being remote-controlled by an Italian lady and her agents,' says former Union minister O Rajagopal, the BJP candidate from Thiruvananthapuram who will challenge Shashi Tharoor.
The BJP in Kerala is likely to get a prize catch with popular Malayalam film actor Suresh Gopi joining the party soon.
Voters are disillusioned with the two rival fronts in the state and there are no effective alternatives either. G Sreedathan explains
'Politics is not a post for retired people to enjoy.'
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday said he is being targeted by people within his party because he is an outsider and decried criticism of his response to Narendra Modi's call to support the clean India campaign.
'Even if the anti-Modi 'Mahagatbandhan' gets a majority there is simply no way that Nitish Kumar can ensure even a stable government, leave alone a good -- clean, development-oriented -- government,' argues T V R Shenoy.
In order to stall the Telangana bill and urge the government to withdraw its decision, the YSR Congress of Jagan Mohan Reddy and Seemandhra government employees will protest in different parts of the city
Three Members of Parliament were on Thursday rushed to a hospital in Delhi after they complained of choking and burning eyes following a pepper spray attack by a member during introduction of Telangana Bill in Lok Sabha while another MP was admitted for a heart condition after he collapsed during the fracas.
For Arnab Goswami, the television studio is a stage and he plays his part to the hilt, with a finger on the pulse of the English-speaking audience, says Veenu Sandhu
There are 13 new faces, including two women, in the cabinet. Five ministers had held positions in previous LDF ministries.
The former IAS officer was sworn-in as Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Tourism; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
As counting is on in the five states - Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Assam and West Bengal -- here's a look at where the heavyweights stand.
The government will stick to its decision on making Hyderabad a common capital for 10 years, but may agree to a special package for Seema-Andhra. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Shashi Tharoor speaks to Shobha Warrier on the controversy over his article seen as praising Narendra Modi and what the future holds for the Congress and Rahul Gandhi.
YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy is in New Delhi to protest the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. He tells Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa that he is in New Delhi to show the strength of the Telugu people to Sonia Gandhi.
A total of 1,203 candidates, including 109 women, are contesting for the 140 assembly seats in which a total of 2.61 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.
Thiruvananthapuram did not give him a resounding victory, but did not abandon him either. If he learns his lessons and avoids the pitfalls of the past, he will have a bright political future, says T P Sreenivasan.
The BJP scripted history by opening its account in the state assembly.
Mayawati was outmanoeuvred by the BJP in the race for the Rajya Sabha in Uttar Pradesh just days after she helped the Samajwadi Party snatch two Lok Sbaha seats from the saffron party in bypolls.
The budget, presented by Finance Minister Thomas Issac, focused on infrastructure development, strengthening of social welfare measures, steps to enhance safety of women, giving impetus to public education and health. It is the second budget by the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF after it came to power last year.
'Narendra Modi is one person who came up fighting many injustices. So, he is a fighter all the time, and that makes all the difference.'
Scripting history, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday stormed to power in Assam bagging a government in the north east for the first time dethroning the Congress which also lost Kerala while Jayalalithaa and Mamata Banerjee retained power in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal with spectacular victories.
Rumblings within Congress over its decision to form Telangana grew on Friday with its seven MPs, a state minister and seven MLAs from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions quitting amid indications that some more are likely to follow suit.
It is not just film stars who are spicing up the poll scene in Andhra Pradesh, but also corporate honchos who are jumping on to the political bandwagon to try their fortunes in Lok Sabha and assembly polls.
'In the long term, the party that is going to be irrelevant is the Left.' 'It seems absurd that the people of Kerala are the last ones to wake up to the reality that this kind of discredited dogmatic ideological politics has no place in the modern world.'
The Citizenship Amendment Bill would possibly be the first piece of legislation that is perniciously discriminatory on the basis of religion/faith, says Mohammad Sajjad.
The Telangana Bill, which was rejected by the Andhra Pradesh assembly on January 30, will return to the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday along with six bundles containing 8,049 amendments.
'This business of monopoly of one family must end.' 'Here, they picked up a few leaders for him as he needed support which was okay, but later, they became his cronies.'
'If the Nairs split between Shashi Tharoor and the BJP candidate, O Rajagopal and the Nadars combine with the Leftists and the Christians to vote for the CPI candidate, Bennet Abraham, what would happen to Tharoor. It is presumed that the voters do not cast their votes, they vote their castes,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan
Former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor has informed the Kerala High Court that he had not acquired any assets of his late wife Sunanda Pushkar either individually or jointly with her son or anybody else as her movable and immovable assets are not yet "ascertainable or estimable".
While Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy is considering staying away from mainstream politics for a few months after resigning, Seema-Andhra MPs are gearing up to join the BJP or YSR Congress. Vicky Nanjappa reports
The Parliament was rocked by Telangana issue again on Monday, prompting Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar to take the unprecedented step of suspending nine members from Andhra Pradesh for five days, the second time in the same session.
Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy, who will be listed in the history as the last chief minister of an "undivided" Andhra Pradesh, is likely to drop his plans to float a new political party.
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Telangana issue rocked Parliament on Monday with Lok Sabha Speaker Meria Kumar taking the unprecedented step of suspending nine members -- four of Telugu Desam Party and five Congress -- from Andhra Pradesh for creating "grave disorder".
'The feeling in Telangana is that without her a separate state cannot be created... All the MPs and MLAs from Seema-Andhra have a business background. Their interest is to save their business,' Congress MP K Raj Gopal Reddy, who played a key role in Thursday's turbulent events, tells Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.
In an open defiance, Union Minister M M Pallam Raju on Wednesday questioned the government's hurry to push the Telangana bill and said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's disapproval of disruptions in Parliament was not "fair".
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The demands for frisking of MPs while entering Parliament, triggered after the 'pepper spray' attack by one of them last week, fizzled out on Monday with a Parliamentary Committee deciding against making such a recommendation.
