Come May 16, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance will have more seats from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh than any formation mustered by the Congress, notes T V R Shenoy.
Primarily the discussion will be on Satyam matters and also on ensuing parliament and state Assembly polls.
Congress General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday met several party leaders in Hyderabad, including some ministers of N Kiran Kumar Reddy government who were understood to have voiced their displeasure about the style of function of the chief minister.
At its Jaipur meeting, the BJP will focus on this year's assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh while the Congress's Chintan Shivir in Udaipur will discuss how it can resurrect itself.
All eyes in Andhra Pradesh are on the by-elections to the Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula assembly constituencies, from where Jagan Mohan Reddy and his mother Vijayalaxmi will be contesting.
If as critics point out, the environmental impact assessment study was commissioned only after the auction process got underway with not all the stakeholders getting to know of it, then the government has already compromised the trust it could have enjoyed with Kerala's public including its coastal communities, points out Shyam G Menon.
Vijay Sai Reddy, auditor for the YSR family and accused No 2 in YSR Congress party leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy's disproportionate asset case, will have to go back to Chanchalguda Central Jail of Hyderabad, from where he was released on bail only a week ago.
The firm, which in recent years won the prestigious Zojila tunnel deal among other projects, forayed into city gas and acquired a media group, purchased electoral bonds of Rs 966 crore in total.
Those in the Andhra Pradesh unit of the Congress who can't see the full picture that is emerging expect the sky to fall on their head any moment now.
The launch of Jana Sena party by Union minister Chiranjeevi's brother and Telugu movie star Pawan Kalyan may alter political equations in Andhra Pradesh, more particularly in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, days ahead of elections to Lok Sabha and the state assembly.
The Congress' top leadership decided to rally firmly behind the Kiran Kumar Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh as the party prepares to face the Telangana issue after an official committee submits its report on the statehood issue by this month-end.
Of the 16 assembly seats in Telangana, which went to the bypolls because of en masse resignation of the TRS members, TRS could retain only seven seats. Similarly of the four Lok Sabha seats, which TRS resigned from last year, the party could retain only two and other two were shared by the Congress and the TDP. The ruling Congress party wrested five and the TDP bagged four assembly seats earlier held by the TRS.
The Congress' washout in the recent by-polls at the hands of rebel Y S Jaganmohan Reddy's fledgling party is understood to have been discussed at a meeting Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy had with his party chief Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi.
Who will take over the mantle of the Congress in Andhra Pradesh? This is the big question in the event of the death of charismatic leader Dr Y S Rajashekhara Reddy.
Triggering a virtual rebellion against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, state Health Minister D L Ravindra Reddy on Thursday sent his resignation to Congress president Sonia Gandhi "taking moral responsibility" for the party's poor show in the by-elections.
The government on Saturday lifted the ban on onion exports but imposed a minimum export price (MEP) of $550 per tonne, amid ongoing Lok Sabha elections in the country. Last night, the government imposed a 40 per cent duty on export of onions. In August last year, India had imposed a 40 per cent export duty on onions up to December 31, 2023.
Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday. No other member of his cabinet took the oath as he will finalise his team after meeting party president Sonia Gandhi and other central ministers.
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.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Tuesday left for Delhi, where he is expected to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and possibly discuss an expansion of his cabinet and Telangana, among other issues. There has been speculation that the chief minister would induct only two legislators of erstwhile Praja Rajyam Party into his cabinet. It is speculated that the cabinet re-jig may take place anytime between January 21 and 28.
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.
After Governor of Andhra Pradesh ESL Narasimhan emerged from a 45-minute meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, a source indicated that they both had held key discussions on the current political situation in the state.
The Congress Working Committee is likely to take a final decision on the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh to create a state of Telangana on Tuesday.
The Andhra Pradesh minister for information technology Komatireddy Venkatreddy told mediapersons in Hyderabad that he had not received the notice from the All India Congress Committee and will respond to it when he receives it.
In the backdrop of the Delhi gang-rape case, Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee President Botsa Satyanarayana on Monday stirred a controversy by questioning the need for women to roam in streets at midnight.
Andhra Pradesh Roads and Buildings Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao resigned late on Tuesday night, a day after CBI named him as an accused in the disproportionate assets case against YSR Congress leader Jaganmohan Reddy.
In the first signs of political trouble in Andhra Pradesh's ruling Congress party, the state minister for women and child welfare Konda Surekha tendered her resignation to the state governor ND Tiwari on Thursday evening.
The Andhra Pradesh high court on Thursday dismissed the regular bail petition of YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy in connection with an alleged disproportionate assets case involving him. The AP high court had on December 24 dismissed the statutory bail plea of Jagan.
The DGP was on the "hit list" of the YSR Congress for some time now, as they were perceived to be close to the previous Telugu Desam Party government.
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.
The Bharatiya Janata Party feels it has more to lose if it gets into an alliance with the Telugu Desam Party in Seema-Andhra. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Hitting out at the Congress rule in Andhra Pradesh for its poor response to providing relief to rain-hit farmers, former Congress Member of Parliament Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday said the government would have to bid goodbye to power in the state if it neglected farmers."At least now, this government should open its eyes and rectify its mistakes. If it fails to become farmer-friendly, then I warn that the time has arrived for this government to go," he said.
The tumult in the ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh in the aftermath of the rout in the assembly bypolls continued on Friday, with some party leaders blaming Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy for the poor showing.
Rao said he has given a notice against Naqvi for allegedly allowing BJP members to troop into the Well of Rajya Sabha to stall proceedings.
He is expected to be produced before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court on Saturday where the ED will seek his remand for custodial interrogation.
Nineteen opposition political parties, including the Congress have announced a boycott of the ceremony on May 28, demanding that President Droupadi Murmu and not Prime Minister Narendra Modi do the inauguration.
Over 60 per cent of the electorate exercised their franchise on Thursday in the by-election to the four Lok Sabha and 18 assembly seats,in Andhra Pradesh, widely seen as a referendum on Telangana statehood issue.The polling was largely peaceful barring stray incidents of clashes among political rivals.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Thursday directed the police to observe utmost restraint in dealing with the ongoing agitation in Andhra-Rayalaseema regions.
Even as the schedule of Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly polls is likely to be announced in a week's time, all the major political parties have already gone all out with sarcastic television advertisements targeting their rivals.
The BJP's bandh call, separately endorsed by the Maoists, was meant to mark protest against the delay in the formation of separate Telangana state by the Congress-led UPA government. However, the bandh evoked mixed response though the BJP leaders and activists went around the towns and cities across Telangana to enforce the call.
