Even as the political pressure to demand a separate Telangana state is mounting, Congress leaders from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions on Saturday said that the onus of keeping Andhra Pradesh undivided lies with the Centre.
Y S Vijaya Lakshmi, widow of late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, was on Thursday unanimously elected as the leader of YSR Congress Legislature Party.
Congress legislators from the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseeema would soon undertake a 48-hour hunger strike in Hyderabad in support of united Andhra Pradesh.
'The move to appoint a person with a profile, markedly lower than the leader Nitin Nabin will replace, has the potential to put the brakes on the careers of several others in the party and government in the positions they currently hold,' points out Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Twenty five legislators belonging to Telangana Rashtra Samiti and YSR Congress were suspended from the Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday for constantly disrupting proceedings over different issues.
The move by the Andhra Pradesh cabinet came after the Y S Jaganmohan Reddy government last week failed to pass in the Upper House of the state legislature two crucial Bills related to its plan of having three capitals for the state.
Naidu claimed that he never saw such a situation like how it was when Reddy, the YSRCP chief, ruled during the past five years.
President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday gave seven more days to the Andhra Pradesh assembly till January 30 to discuss and debate the draft Telangana Bill in the House before returning it to the Centre.
Two Congress members of Legislative Assembly -- Konda Surekha and Kunja Sathyavathi on Tuesday submitted their resignations from the Andhra Pradesh Assembly demanding creation of Telangana state.
Andhra Pradesh capital Hyderabad on Friday resembled a fortress with 10,000 policemen from the state and 2000 Central paramilitary force personnel deployed in view of the 'Chalo Assembly' protest called by pro-Telangana parties that began this morning.
In the wake of 26 members of Legislative Assembly loyal to Y S Jaganmohan Reddy submitting their resignation, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy on Tuesday ruled out any threat to his government saying it would last its full term.
The Congress's central leadership has summoned Andhra Pradesh party unit's chief Botsa Sathyanarayana to Delhi to discuss the Telangana issue. Sathyanarayana is expected to discuss the demand for creation of Telangana with the party's top leaders today. The Congress is working out a package for Telangana to ensure that party leaders are on a strong footing when the Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly starts another session in December.
Reddy, who was the Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly, takes charge as the chief minister, following the resignation of K Rosaiah earlier today.
'If the RJD loses it would be out of power for nearly 25 years. Meanwhile, the JD-U will have survival issues if it gets less number of seats.'
The Andhra Pradesh Congress legislature committee unanimously passed a resolution on Friday, requesting Congress president Sonia Gandhi to choose the Congress Legislature Party leader. The resolution, moved by Kadapa member of Parliament YS Jaganmohan Reddy, was supported by 150 Members of the Legislative Assembly and 49 Members of Legislative Council
Rayudu's decision comes ahead of the state Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha polls.
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.
Two Members of Legislative Assembly from the Telangana Rashtra Samiti on Friday climbed the Legislature Party building in the Andhra Pradesh assembly premises and threatened to jump off if a separate state of Telangana was not created immediately.
The end of the last session of the 12th Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly on Thursday was as stormy as most of its tenure. Almost the entire opposition stormed the well of the House to disrupt the last statement of the Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy on the issue of separate Telangana state.
A ministerial panel looking into the reasons for the Congress' poor performance at the recent bypolls on Wednesday discussed ways to effectively publicise the welfare schemes being implemented by the Andhra Pradesh government to reach out to the masses.
The deadlock in the Andhra Pradesh assembly is likely to end on Monday, when the Telangana Bill will finally be presented in the House.
It will be the first address ever by a President to a state assembly.
Proceedings were stalled for 25 minutes over the incident wherein the police misbehaved with CPI-M legislator Sunnam Rajaiah and his family members.
The ethics committee of Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly will make necessary recommendations to Speaker Nadendla Manohar for initiating disciplinary action against Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi over the alleged "hate speech" he delivered in Adilabad district.
The move gains importance in the backdrop of the constitution of a house committee by the assembly speaker in July 2005 to probe into illegal occupation of properties of Christian missionaries and educational institutions in the state.
Stepping up its investigation into liquor syndicates in Andhra Pradesh, the Anti-Corruption Bureau has issued notices to three sitting members of Legislative Assembly, one of them from ruling Congress, and others asking them to appear before the ant-graft agency.
After Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram would go for polls this year.
Amidst high drama, 32 TDP MLAs, including party president N Chandrababu Naidu staged a demonstration near the Speaker's podium after the House was adjourned.Naidu and his colleagues slept on the floor and were preparing to corner the Congress government on the MSP issue as soon the House assembles on Monday, the last day of the 10-day winter session. In spite of repeated appeals by the Speaker, the slogan-shouting TDP legislators continued their sit-in near the podium.
Despite the towering image of BRS supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, along with the party's extensive grassroots network and welfare programmes, the perceived inaccessibility of its leaders contributed to the growing anti-incumbency sentiments.
Trouble began when the Speaker disallowed adjournment notices on the multi-crore rupee scam relating to misappropriation of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan funds amounting to 40 crore.
A high-level committee on Thursday recommended simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and state assemblies as the first step followed by synchronised local body polls within 100 days.
The vote value of an MLA is calculated on the basis of the total population of the state, based on the 1971 census.
Continuing to mount pressure on the government over the Telangana Bill, pro and anti-statehood Congress leaders are preparing to stage separate sit-ins in New Delhi on Wednesday when the special session of the Parliament starts.
The polling began amidst tight security in the by-elections to four Lok Sabha and 18 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday. While the by-elections to four Lok Sabha and 16 Assembly seats were caused by the en-masse resignation of Telangana Rashtra Samiti members on the issue of statehood for Telangana region, two other Assembly seats fell vacant following the death of sitting Khairatabad Congress Legislator P Janardhan Reddy in the city.