Three Telugu Desam Party leaders including former state Home Minister K Siva Prasad Rao on Thursday went on indefinite fast at the Hindu College centre in Guntur opposing the proposal to divide Andhra Pradesh.
'It is a fiercely fought battle, like our fiery chillies in Guntur.'
Telugu Desam Party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu reached his house in Undavalli in Amaravati early on Wednesday after being released on bail in the Skill Development Corporation scam case.
Former Telugu Desam Party MP Yelamanchali Sivaji and an ex-IAS officer T Chandrasekhar of Maharashtra cadre on Tuesday joined the Praja Rajyam party floated by Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi. Sivaji, a former Rajya Sabha member and an expert on farmers' issues, joined the actor's party along with a large number of his followers from Guntur district.
The incident occurred at Tenali in Guntur district when the local YSRCP MLA A Siva Kumar attempted to jump the queue and was questioned by one of the voters. In a fit of rage, the legislator slapped the man, who did not hold himself back and returned the favour.
Unidentified people demolished a life-size statue of late Andhra Pradesh chief minister N T Rama Rao at Jawahar Nagar on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Thursday night, triggering widespread protests from the Telugu Desam Party cadre in the state. TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, who was on his foot march in Guntur district, strongly condemned the vandalism and demanded that the culprits be brought to book immediately.
The Telugu Desam Party continued to suffer the jolts with another senior leader from coastal Andhra region indicating that he was on the way out. M Pedda Rathaiah, four time legislator and former minister from Guntur district, held a meeting with his supporters and followers at his residence on Saturday to take a final decision about his political future.
Locals have witnessed real estate prices skyrocket from a historic low of Rs 6,000 per square yard (in 2020) during Jagan Mohan Reddy's regime to around Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 per square yard after elections.
'I shall soon enter politics in Andhra Pradesh to serve the people. Before that, I have decided to visit different parts of the district to know the people's pulse and understand their problems.'
The government noted in its order that "the right to conduct a public meeting on public roads and streets is a subject matter of regulation as Section 30 of the Police Act, 1861 itself mandates."
This is the second such incident occurring in the TDP chief's public meeting in a week. Eight people had died in a stampede on December 28 last year in Nellore.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister-designate N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demanded special category status for the residual state.
Sixteen MLAs of main opposition Telugu Desam Party faxed their resignations to Andhra Pradesh assembly speaker's office tonight, protesting that the Centre did not give firm assurance on protecting the interests of people in the proposed Andhra Pradesh state after the separation of Telangana
Jaganmohan Reddy, whose party has nine MPs, had already announced last month that his party parliamentarians would quit on April 6, at the end of the budget session, if the special category status was not granted.
Venkateswarlu, in the video, hoped his elder brother and sister-in-law would look after his son. He wanted his wife to re-marry and live a happy life.
Scores of opposition workers were taken into custody by police in several areas across the state.
Scores of TDP leaders and supporters burst into celebrations across the state on the release of their leader.
Veteran legislator Kodela Sivaprasada Rao has been unanimously elected as the first Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh post bifurcation of the state.
Rao's death triggered a political slugfest in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh with the Telugu Desam Party holding the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government there responsible for the veteran leader's suspected suicide.
The humiliation for the Telugu Desam Party was such that it could cross the double digit in only five urban local bodies while other opposition parties Bharatiya Janata Party and Jana Sena Partymade little gains.
Party leaders and workers who were on their way to Naidu's residence were stopped by police and taken into preventive custody.
Former Member of Parliament S M Lal Jan Basha, who served as a prominent Muslim face of Telugu Desam Party for close to three decades, was killed in a road accident at Narketpalli on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada National Highway in the wee hours on Thursday.
The coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions continued to simmer on Friday with protests continuing unabated over the Congress' decision to divide Andhra Pradesh.
Flaying the 'pomp and show' associated with the 'coronation' of N Chandrababu Naidu, Jaganmohan Reddy, chief of YSR Congress party, on Saturday said he does not want to be part of the extravagant swearing-in ceremony when Andhra Pradesh is in deep crisis.
In addition to CPI workers, activists of Congress, YSR Congress and other Opposition parties, who extended support to the bandh, held rallies and other forms of protest at different places in the state.
Several ministers in his government joined Naidu in the fast, which was held in all 13 districts of the state.
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.
As round one of the seven-phase Lok Sabha election began in 91 constituencies across the length and breadth of India, from the hills of Kashmir to the islands of Andaman and Nicobar, reports of unrest and irregularities cast shadows over the world's biggest poll process.
Normal life remained paralysed for the second consecutive day in the 13 districts of the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of the state following the bandh call by Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers and YSR Congress against the tabling of the Telangana bill in Lok Sabha.
A committee has been set up to finalise the capital for the region, which will consult both Union government and both the new state governments. Vicky Nanjappa reports
It was a mixed outing for super rich candidates as five of them emerged victorious and an equal number suffered defeat in the Lok Sabha polls.
Parallel to this, the ruling Telugu Desam has been organising rallies across the state in solidarity with its MPs.
'He keeps reminding me he is senior. There is no debate in this. I have never shown any disrespect to you since you are a senior,' the PM said.
Veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and Bharatiya Janata Party candidates Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sumer Singh Solanki on Friday won Rajya Sabha election from Madhya Pradesh.
A mix of industrialists and businessmen, who have inherited riches or rose from humble backgrounds and even endured boom and bust cycles, the top five MPs are illustrative of how the political stock of the wealthy is increasing rapidly.
As Jagan's property attachment came on the day the poll dates were announced, the YSR chief and his supporters refuse to buy the Enforcement Directorate's claim that it was a mere coincidence. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
'After the creation of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh has been left as an agrarian state.' 'Therefore, the special category status to this residual state was imminent and necessary for its development,' YSR Congress MP V Vijayasai Reddy explained in the Rajya Sabha.
"(Former PM) Atal Bihari Vajpayee said 'raj dharma' was not followed in Gujarat (during the 2002 riots). Now, 'raj dharma' is not being followed in case of Andhra Pradesh. We have been denied what was rightfully ours," he claimed.
This time however, the poll panel did not share the overall polling percentage at its briefing.
