Demanding that Centre make an announcement of formation of Telangana state by June 25, the Telangana political Joint Action Committee on Thursday said the members of Parliament and members of legislative assembly of the ruling Congress and opposition Telugu Desam Party should resign if this did not happen.
Ahead of the June 12 by-elections in Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy today alleged that Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy had "colluded" with Telugu Desam Party and Telangana Rashtra Samiti to "topple" the state government and grab power.
Kicking off its consultation process over two months after it was constituted, the Justice B N Srikrishna Committee on Telangana on Friday heard a delegation led by Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhar Rao who strongly batted for a separate Telangana to be carved out of Andhra Pradesh.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Tuesday dared Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhar Rao to topple the state government.
The MLAs -- 10 from the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, 2 from Congress, one each from Bharatiya Janata Party, Telugu Desam Party and Praja Rajyam -- met Speaker N Kiran Kumar Reddy in Hyderabad and submitted their resignation. The legislators said they resigned in order to mount pressure on the Centre to take immediate steps for formation of a separate state.
Addressing a mammoth rally of Muslims in Hyderabad, organized byJamat-e-Islami Hind and its affiliated organizations Students Islamic Organization and Movement for Peace and Justice, TRS President K Chandrasekhara Rao said that Muslims constitute 12 to 15% of the population in the region. "They will get a proportional share in every thing including the budget", he said.
Rejecting Chidambaram's statement that there was a lack of political consensus, the TRS, BJP and all other parties have called for a 48-hours strike in Telangana region from Thursday to intensify their fight for Telangana.
Telangana supporters continued to target the Telugu film shooting for the second consecutive day on Wednesday.
After Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K Chandrasekhara Rao's 11-day fast forced the United Progressive Alliance government to concede to his demand for a separate Telangana state, some angry Congress leaders from Andhra Pradesh have threatened to go on a fast-unto-death themselves, to make the Centre reconsider its decision.Congress Member of Parliament from Vijaywada Lagdapati Rajagopal has declared that he will sit on a fast-unto-death in front of the assembly.
'Many veteran leaders in the Odisha BJP had met them, but their problems were never sorted out.'
The Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly was adjourned on Tuesday with out transacting any business as members of Telangana Rashtra Samiti stalled the proceedings demanding that the House should adopt a resolution on formation of a spereate Telangana state.
With the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Praja Rajyam Party clamouring to join hands with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti over the demand for a separate state, pressure is mounting on Congress president Sonia Gandhi to initiate steps to deal with the issue immediately. The growing unrest within the party, especially among the leaders of Telangana region, came to the fore on Sunday with Congress Working Committee member G Venkat Swamy openly supporting the demand for Telangana.
With the Left parties' withdrawal of support from the Manmohan Singh led United Progressive Alliance creating a political uncertainty at the Centre, some leaders have started efforts to woo Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K Chandrasekhara Rao, to secure his support for the beleaguered coalition."I told him clearly that we will extend support to the UPA only if the government announces the formation of Telangana state," Rao told reporters in Hyderabad.
"TRS welcomes the decision of the UP Chief Minister. It is a bold step. It is very good for democracy. She has also reiterated her support to the formation of Telangana. For her act of kindness, I thank her," TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao told media persons in Hyderabad before leaving for Delhi to attend the Parliament session.
Besides issuing notices to Telangana Rashtra Samiti, which is spearheading the stir, a bench of justices G S Singhvi and S Mukhopadhaya also issued notices to the registrar general of the high court and the state bar council and sought their replies on the plea.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti Member of Parliament and Telugu actress Vijayashanthi on Wednesday met veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani in Pragnapur, in her Lok Sabha constituency of Medak, amidst media reports that she might join the saffron party soon. Vijayshanthi, who was in BJP earlier, stood beside Advani, who is on his countrywide yatra, as he spoke from atop his rath. After concluding his speech, Advani said he welcomed her.
Creating a stir in the political circles, the film star-turned-politician and member of Lok Sabha of Telangana Rashtra Samiti, Vijayshanti, on Friday met the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, the political face of the pro-Telangana movement, and his supporters held the sit-in and 'observed silence' at Rajghat for a few hours on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti to highlight the "grave situation" in Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh.
Pro-Telangana protestors attacked the cavalcade of Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu in Mehboob Nagar on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Monday.According to reports, the former Andhra Pradesh chief minister escaped unhurt.
Breaking the lull in their agitation, the pro-Telangana activists have called for a strike on September 5 to stall the Group I preliminary examinations of the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission. The bandh call has been given by the Osmania University Students Joint Action Committee to press its demand for a quota for the Telangana region in Group I jobs of the state government. Their stand is being supported by the Telangana Joint Action Committee.
Even as the executive committee of Telangana Rashtra Samiti is scheduled to meet on Saturday afternoon to discuss the resignation of K Chandrasekhara Rao as party president, the TRS suffered another blow deepening the crisis. as actress-turned-politician and member of Parliament Vijayshanti has also resigned as the secretary general of TRS in an expression of solidarity with the TRS chief.
Buoyed up by the sweeping victory in the by elections to 12 assembly seats, Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K Chandrasekhara Rao on Friday appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi to take immediate steps for the formation of Telangana state.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday asked the party's supporters, especially students, to be prepared for a 'great war' when the Srikrishna Committee submits its report. "A great war will be inevitable after December. We have to keep our weapons sharp. Party leaders said they will enroll 10 lakh members. If these 10 lakh come on to the streets after December, can the government function," he said while addressing the party's student wing.
In a bid to carry forward the momentum created by the resignations of Telangana MLAs and MPs, the Telangana Joint Action Committee has called for a 48-hour strike in the region from Tuesday.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday warned that Telangana would burn if the Centre chose to constitute a regional development council and did not keep its promise of carving out a separate state.
The bandh called by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Telangana Joint Action Committee and several other organisations brought normal life in the region to a grinding halt on Saturday. The bandh was called to protest Friday's firing on pro-Telangana activists who tried to stop the visit of Congress Member of Parliament from Kadapa YS Jaganmohan Reddy to Warangal district. Nearly five hundred pro-Telangana activists were arrested.
'Namaste Telangana,' credited to be the first Telugu newspaper of Telangana region, has hit the stands all over the region on Monday with a record initial print run of 750,000.
The Telugu Desam Party-led Grand Alliance in Andhra Pradesh got a major boost on Saturday with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti formally announcing its decision to join the alliance. The TRS had been holding political negotiations with both the Grand Alliance and Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party.TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao, accompanied by other party leaders, met TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu today afternoon and formally joined the alliance.
In a bid to intensify its demand of statehood for Telangana once again, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti has lined up a series of agitations this month.
With a significant number of Opposition leaders present at the swearing-in ceremony of the Congress government in Karnataka, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Sunday said Opposition unity requires much more than optics of this nature and stressed the need for meeting of minds, a common agenda and sacrificing partisan interests.
The political scene in Andhra Pradesh took an interesting turn on Tuesday with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti deciding to join the Grand Alliance comprising the Telugu Desam Party, the Communist Party of India - Marxist and the Communist Party of India. The TRS' decision came as a major setback for the ruling Congress and a rude shock for the fledgling Praja Rajyam Party of actor Chiranjeevi, as they desperately sought to align with the pro-Telangana outfit.
While Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has made his national ambitions amply clear, even rechristening his party to aid the process, his Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin insists he is already in the national scene and used his birthday rally on March 1 to not only strongly pitch for the Congress as a force to reckon with in the efforts to dislodge the Narendra Modi-led dispensation at the Centre, but also sought to shoot down the prospects of a Third Front.
The Osmania University Joint Action Committee on Telangana on Tuesday appealed to political parties in Andhra Pradesh to field relatives of people who died during the agitation for a separate state when the by-elections are held in over ten constituencies in the state.Manavat Rai, a member of the OU Joint Action Committee, said the parties should field relatives of the people, especially students, who have 'sacrificed their lives for the cause of a separate state'.
Actor turned politician Chiranjeevi got a taste of the murkier side of politics on Tuesday, when workers of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti pelted eggs at the megastar at Narsampeta in Warangal district. Smeared in egg yolk, Chiranjeevi was forced to make an unscheduled stop at a school to take a bath. "This is not good, not proper. You should not indulge in such things," Chiranjeevi said even as his security guards tried to shield him.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti has postponed submission of resignations by its MLAs to the assembly speaker N Kirankumar Reddy by a few hours on the appeal of Telangana Joint Action Committee convenor Prof Kodandaram.
The seven-point terms of reference of Sirkrishna committee announced by the central government has plunged Andhra Pradesh into a political uncertainty and pro-Telangana groups have given a call for strike in the region on Saturday.
The seven point terms of reference of the Srikrishna Commission, announced on Friday, has evoked a negative response from the leaders of the pro-Telangana movement. The Union home ministry announced the terms of reference of the five-member committee and set a deadline of December 31. The ministry asked the committee to look in to the demands for a separate Telangana and for an undivided Andhra Pradesh.
Dr Sangam Prithviraj Yadav, chief of the Students' Joint Action Committee for the Telangana movement, claims that the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, which has been at the forefront of the movement, is actually delaying the creation of a new state. In an interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, he explains why.
Speculations were rife that the Centre might announce the formation of a high level official committee to go in to the issues such as the status of Hyderabad, the future capital of the Andhra-Rayala Seema state and sharing of waters of Krishna and Godavari between Telangana and Andhra.
The process involving the formation of a separate Telangana state will rest largely with the general public rather than the political leaders, Telangana Rashtra Samiti general secretary Subhash Reddy said on Thursday.
