Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy's efforts to placate the Congress MLAs from Telangana to give up their agitation, as the Centre would make an announcement on the issue in the first week of March, failed to yield any positive result.
The BJP, which is toying with the idea of forming the next government at the Centre feels that it does not want the headache of bifurcating a state, where a majority have expressed a negative view, says Vicky Nanjappa.
This is what the Union government has to offer to the people of Telangana: We will ensure Hyderabad is no longer a free zone. As talks between the Union government and the Telangana members of legislative assemble and members of Parliament continue, the deadlock continues as well.
Congress general secretary and leader-in-charge of Andhra Pradesh Digvijaya Singh added to the confusion surrounding the Telangana issue on Thursday when he spoke about the possibility of a Constitutional Amendment to create a separate state.
Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and is understood to have submitted a report on his consultations with party lawmakers from Andhra Pradesh on the Telangana issue, amid mounting pressure for an "early decision" on the statehood demand.
There is a lot at stake for the Congress in Andhra Pradesh with all members of legislative assembly and members of Parliament of the party from the Telangana region deciding to tender their resignation on Monday. Currently, hectic efforts are on to pacify these leaders not to resign from their posts.
The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill was passed by a voice vote in Rajya Sabha amid unprecedented bedlam on Thursday night.
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.
Acting tough, the Congress high command on Saturday issued show-cause notices to two Andhra Pradesh MPs -- L Rajagopal and Madhu Goud Yashki -- who are at the forefront of anti-and pro-Telangana campaigns respectively.
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 Enforcement Directorate on Friday arrested Bharat Rashtra Samiti leader K Kavitha after an hours-long raid at her premises in Hyderabad and brought her to Delhi for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, agency sources said.
'The man who decided that a multi-lingual Hyderabad should remain would not have been surprised that Telangana and Seemandhra could not live together as a united state.'
The GoM, set up to look into the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, will meet separately eight political parties of Andhra Pradesh on November 12 and 13 and union ministers from the state on November 18 to discuss various issues related to the creation of Telangana.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy on Tuesday held discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on the issue of Telangana.Reddy, who was called to the capital by the Congress high command on Monday, is understood to have briefed Dr Singh about the prevailing political and law and order situation in the state.
Dr Sangam Prithviraj, who leads the students at the Osmania University in Hyderabad, says that they were foolish to trust TRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao and that now all students in all the 10 districts of Telangana will take the movement forward themselves.
The bill on separate Telangana could rock the last session of the 15th Lok Sabha beginning Wednesday with several parties asking the government to first get the Vote on Account passed before taking up any other legislation.
'Are we so ready to believe that in this country whose virtues we constantly shout from the rooftops, there is no single person -- other than Modi -- in a minimum of 272 elected MPs with the talent and ability to lead this country?' asks Prem Panicker.
Stepping up pressure on the Centre, Congress lawmakers from non-Telangana regions on Tuesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding that the government should not bifurcate Andhra Pradesh, but were counselled patience by him
'The strategy of frontal organisations of the Maoists is to create unrest and ensure that such unrest leads to a law and order problem.' 'To cover such acts it was necessary to bring in a different definition of unlawful activities which is different from the definition of unlawful activities in the UAPA.'
The 'black paper', titled '10 saal anyay kaal' also alleged that issues such as rising prices, unemployment, subversion of institutions and farmers' 'distress' had plagued the country.
The Telangana Bill, which was rejected by the Andhra Pradesh assembly on January 30, will return to the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday along with six bundles containing 8,049 amendments.
The reverses for the BJP in the Hindi heartland threw wide open the 2019 Lok Sabha elections which until a few months ago appeared to be in the grip of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party.
The K Rosaiah government in Andhra Pradesh finds itself under immense pressure from not only Opposition parties but also a section of Congress leaders to find out an early solution to the Telangana crisis.
Earlier, Modi was given a standing ovation at the meeting following the party's stupendous win in three assembly polls.
In a major success for Telangana supporters, the Andhra Pradesh government has decided to withdraw the cases booked against the agitators during the protests before the formation of the Srikrishna committee by the Centre.
The BJP also wrote to the EC, urging it to postpone the date of counting as Sunday is a sacred day for Christians, and the entire day is devoted to church services throughout the state.
As the extended Winter Session of Parliament entered its third and last week on Monday, the Telangana issue continued to disrupt Rajya Sabha leading to its adjournment for the day.
The former Union minister said it is 'quite heartening' to see that Gandhi has taken up the initiative to involve Kishor to come out with a strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, and the party's revival plan.
Senior Janata Dal-United leader Dhananjay Singh pitched for Opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and said party workers in Uttar Pradesh want Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to contest the elections from the state's Phulpur constituency.
The Congress is trying to devise a political strategy to capitalise on the ongoing agitation in Andhra Pradesh, for a separate Telengana state, and defuse the pressure on the state government regarding the issue.Congress president Sonia Gandhi reportedly spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the revival of the Committee on Telengana, which was constituted during the United Progressive Alliance's first term but was subsequently abandoned.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah may convene an all party meeting on Tuesday to evolve a political consensus on dealing with the Telangana agitation, as the state-wide protests threatened to spiral out of control on Monday.The government is also worried about the worsening health condition of Telangana Rashtriya Samiti leader K Chandrasekhara Rao, who has been on a fast to demand a separate Telangana.
The Bharatiya Janata Party supported the Telangana bill in Rajya Sabha onThursday but sought amendments to ensure the Seemandhra region got justice and a "defective" legislation was not passed.
Ahead of the crucial Congress Working Committee meeting likely to be held in New Delhi on July 28regarding the Telangana issue, MLAs from the Seema-Andhra region have stepped up pressure not to bifurcate the state.
After taking over as the new Panchayati Raj Minister, Deo disapproved of the actions of Andhra Pradesh MLAs and MPs who have resigned on Telangana issue.
Tharoor's campaign team has also raised 'serious issues' in the conduct of the election in Punjab and Telangana.
The government on Wednesday hoped that four political parties in Andhra Pradesh -- Congress, Telugu Desam Party, MIM and YSR Congress -- will take a call on Telangana issue by end of December, enabling it to convene an all-party meeting.
Amid pressure from various quarters for an early decision on the creation of a separate state of Telangana, the government on Saturday said more consultations with various parties are needed on the contentious statehood demand and the exercise would take "some time" to end. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and political secretary to Congress president Ahmed Patel discussed the situation in Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh.
A resolution to this effect was passed at the party's general body meeting in Hyderabad, party sources said.
All the major parties seem to be waiting for their rivals to blink first as forging alliances has apparently become a tricky affair in the newly-born state of Telangana, which has 17 parliamentary and 119 assembly constituencies that will go to polls on April 30.