The act of Congress MP from Vijaywada, L Rajagopal, of escaping from the police custody in Vijaywada to reach Hyderabad and get admitted in Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences has evoked strong condemnation and sharp criticism from all the quarters, including his own Congress party.
Facing flak over his pepper spray attack in Lok Sabha during introduction of the Telangana Bill, Seemandhra MP L Rajagopal on Friday regretted the act, but maintained that he had done it in self defence.
Seema-Andhra Congress leader and MP Lagadapati Rajagopal on Tuesday withdrew his plea before the Delhi high court in which he had sought a direction to the Lok Sabha Speaker to take a decision on his resignation which was submitted on August 2.
Telugu Desam Party legislator D Umamaheswar Rao, who is on an indefinite fast in support of a united Andhra Pradesh, was 'very weak' and unable to speak, his doctors said on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Congress Member of Parliament Lagadapati Rajagopal also continued his fast against the creation of Telangana state in a city hospital. "Umamaheswar Rao is not able to speak. He is very weak but stable," doctors said.
Congress MP Lagadapati Rajagopal on Saturday took a swipe at Sonia Gandhi, saying she "ignored" the groundswell of support against division of Andhra Pradesh by not listening to the party leaders on the issue.
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.
Vicky Nanjappa speaks to suspended Congree MP from Seema-Andhra, Lagadapati Rajagopal, who created a major stir earlier on Thursday by using pepper spray inside the Parliament, continues to be cheered for in his constituency. The leader, however, says that the media is twisting the real facts regarding the incident, and hopes that Congress will stall the Telangana bill.
Under fire for his pepper spray attack in Lok Sabha during introduction of Telangana bill, Seemandhra MP L Rajagopal on Thursday defended his actions, saying he did it in self defence.
'A pro-Modi wave and anti-incumbency will be incomplete without strong candidates.'
It is a misconception that the Congress will gain politically if a separate Telangana is formed, feels Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal.
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Speaker Meira Kumar on Wednesday accepted the resignation of expelled Congress Member of Parliament L Rajagopal, who had created a storm by using pepper spray in Lok Sabha to protest against the Telangana Bill.
Seemandhra Member of Parliament L Rajagopal, who had created a ruckus by splashing pepper spray in Lok Sabha, on Tuesday resigned from Parliament.
Rediff.com rewinds the clock as it struck Noon to unravel how things went awfully wrong in Parliament on Thursday
A metal detector was on Monday installed in front of Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari's office in Parliament after he wondered why he is exempt from usual checks that all others are subjected to.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar rejected the resignations submitted by 13 MPs from Andhra Pradesh, including ten from Congress and two of YSR Congress, against the decision on Telangana, holding these were "not voluntary or genuine". The YSR Congress MPs included party chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.
As the Congress and United Progressive Alliance government appear to be veering towards formation of a separate Telangana state, ministers and MPs from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday opposing any division of Andhra Pradesh.
Ten members of legislative assembly and council, who were with him, were also arrested by the police and sent to Falaknuma police station in the city. This is the second time in the day that Rajagopal has been arrested.
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.
The police are on the look out for Congress Member of Parliament L Rajagopal, who escaped from a city hospital where he was admitted after being brought from a hunger strike site over the Telangana issue.
Taking his fight against division of Andhra Pradesh to the national capital, YSR Congress Party chief Jaganmohan Reddy on Monday staged a protest and courted arrest, while accusing the Congress of engineering the pepper spray episode in Parliament.
Congress Member of Parliament L Rajagopal, who had threatened to go on an indefinite hunger strike to oppose division of Andhra Pradesh, began his fast in Vijaywada on Tuesday.
'This is India. We have allowed ourselves to be dictated by the narrative that the BJP has set for itself.'
According to the confession statement of Radha Kishan Rao, 'Peddayana' was very angry for not completing the work as per his expectation.
Even as the dust settles on one election, glory in Thiruvananthapuram has come with a new question on the horizon: Who will be UDF's candidate in the next Lok Sabha election given Shashi Tharoor has said 2024 would be his last? It isn't a vacancy that can be easily filled, points out Shyam G Menon.
Congress members of Parliament from Seemandhra on Friday hit out at the party leadership for not allowing them to move a resolution at the AICC conclave against the Centre's decision to divide Andhra Pradesh.
Seemandhra Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Lagadapati Rajagopal on Tuesday moved Delhi high court seeking its direction to Speaker Meira Kumar to accept his resignation as member of the House, submitted two months ago.
In an apparent bid to scuttle the move to form Telangana, Congress Member of Parliament L Rajagopal on Sunday threatened to go on a hunger strike if a resolution favouring the separate state was not introduced in the Andhra Pradesh assembly, which, he claimed, will be opposed by 225 members of Andhra Pradesh assembly.
In a stunning electoral victory, the ruling Communist Party if India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), rode back to power in Kerala winning 99 of the 140 seats, bucking the over four decade long trend of Communists and Congress-led United Democratic Front coming to power alternatively.
Voting will be held on Thursday in bypolls to seven assembly seats in six states -- a contest symbolic of the fierce turf war between the Bharatiya Janata Party and regional parties.
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
It is time to pack up, sir! Please resign and save some honour of the Lok Sabha, an anguished Sheela Bhatt reports from the Lok Sabha press gallery after watching the shameful goings on over the tabling of the Telangana Bill.
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 third phase of Lok Sabha elections scheduled for Tuesday will see the maximum number of seats going to the polls in a single phase -- 117 across 15 states and Union Territories. It will also be a test for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party which will aim to defend the maximum number of seats at 62. This time the BJP will be tested in its bastion Gujarat -- where polling will be held for all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state -- apart from Karanataka, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh, where the party had done well in 2014. Here are some of the big political leaders' who await their fate on Tuesday.
The Congress party's reported proposal to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh has those not in favour of the move, especially in the Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions, up in arms.
Chief ministers and other senior leaders made last-minute appeals to voters for their support in Mokama and Gopalganj of Bihar, Adampur of Haryana, Manugoda of Telangana, Gola Gorakhnath of Uttar Pradesh and Dhamnagar of Odisha.
Shobha Warrier reports from Thiruvananthapuram where a former UN diplomat is battling a former governor for the Lok Sabha seat.
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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.
With almost 300 seats to the Lok Sabha being dominated by regional outfits, the Congress has added to the list by giving space to more regional forces in the Seema-Andhra and Telangana regions, says Saroj Nagi.
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.
'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.
