'Union Budgets are often used as political instruments and that was the intention of this government too.' 'But while the exercise has settled two fronts, it has left open several others and this has the potential to aggravate with time,' predicts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The biggest ever show of strength by the supporters of Telangana state brought Hyderabad city to a grinding halt on Sunday. More than a lakh people from all across Telangana flooded Hyderabad as a befitting reply to the challenge of Telangana opponents that nobody can divide Andhra Pradesh or take away Hyderabad from the Seemandhra people.
The Congress party slammed Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and claimed that his pressure tactics resulted in the varsity's denial of permission.
The Telangana government on Tuesday asked the Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh to either prove his allegation that the state police has set up a "bogus" Islamic State website to radicalise Muslim youth or tender an apology.
Three of the fence-sitters rule fairly large states Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha that together send 63 members to Lok Sabha -- where the Congress or other opposition parties have been pushed to the margins.
Wednesday is a historic day for the 2.8 crore voters from Telangana as they exercise their franchise for electing the first government of the new state that will formally come into existence on June 2.
The MLAs of the ruling JMM-led alliance exuded confidence of winning the floor test, while the opposition BJP asserted that the coalition would be defeated.
In true Congress style, the party has once again delayed a decision on the Telanagana statehood issue by referring the matter to its Working Committee.
The Group of Ministers that met in New Delhi has submitted the proposal to create a larger Telangana. This would mean that GoM is suggesting that the state be formed with 12 districts as opposed to 10, which was originally proposed.
The issue of separate Telangana was raised on the opening day of the Budget session on Monday with about a dozen Congress MPs from Andhra Pradesh staging a dharna to protest absence of any mention of the issue in the President's address.
With assembly elections due in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram in the next few months, the Congress is working on poll strategies in these states and has convened a meeting of state leaders on May 24.
Those joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers for the first time include three former chief ministers -- Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana) and H D Kumaraswamy (Karnataka).
Former Union minister Prakash Javadekar and another senior party leader Om Prakash Mathur was made poll in-charge for Telangana and Chhattisgarh respectively, a party statement said.
Voicing disappointment over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh favouring consensus on separate Telangana demand, Congress MPs from the region on Sunday sought intervention of party president Sonia Gandhi in the issue.
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.
Tejashwi Yadav said that could not have a word with Telangana CM but rest all leaders are coming.
Is the Telangana Joint Action Committee, formed to take the separate Telangana movement forward, heading for a split? The resignation issue has upset a majority of the Congress leaders, who are part of the Telangana JAC, and they have threatened to pull out of it.
'The distrust of traditional political parties in Punjab is an advantage for AAP.'
Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday met Rahul Gandhi, a day after he held consultations with Congress president Sonia Gandhi following the passage of the Telangana bill in Parliament.
On Friday, October 20, 2023, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi stopped by a roadside eatery at Kondagattu town in Jagital and cooked a dosa.
Unlike the previous visit, where TDP MPs accompanied Naidu to meetings, sources termed the current visit as "low profile", with one-on-one meetings with key Union ministers.
Seat sharing and campaign is likely to be top of the agenda, they added.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal for 'one nation, one Election' as recommended by the Kovind panel, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief J P Nadda and new party entrant Ashok Chavan and Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan were among the 41 candidates elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday while Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh will witness polling on February 27.
Rao's son K T Rama Rao, a TRS leader said that they are open to a working relationship with the Congress. "Give us some time, and we will work out the modalities and take the next step," he said in this interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday discussed the Telangana issue and electoral reforms in a meeting of Congress core group in New Delhi.
Stronger the pitch of various states, the better for India as a country. The two states plan to showcase their improved 'ease of doing business rankings'.
Without Hyderabad, Telangana loses its charm. So, in spite of taking the issue forward by endorsing the demand for a new state, the CWC endorsement lacks the political force needed to make the idea instantly attractive.
December 28 is going to be a decisive day for the three major political parties in Andhra Pradesh -- Congress, Telugu Desam and YSR Congress.
Long queues were seen at outpatient department ticket counters in government hospitals, where senior doctors joined their junior colleagues in the protest.
The BJP often forgets that in Dravidian Tamil Nadu, the voter does not mix religion, which is personal, and politics that is in the public sphere, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Gandhi also said the idea of 'One Nation, One Election' was aimed at distracting from real issues of the people.
About 40 per cent of sitting MPs have criminal cases registered against them out of which 25 per cent have declared serious criminal cases under charges of murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and crimes against women, according to poll rights body Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
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.
Welcoming the fresh initiative of the Centre to find a solution to the decades-old problem, 13 Congress ministers from Telangana have withdrawn their resignations.
Notwithstanding exit polls giving a clear mandate to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance the Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Friday said the party still prefers to support a Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre.
Even as the pro-unified Andhra Pradesh leaders stepped up activity in New Delhi, Telangana seeking groups on Monday threatened to launch a "militant struggle" if their demand for a separate state was not conceded by January 28, "as promised" by the Centre.
He served as Union minister of information and broadcasting in the IK Gujral government and was allotted different portfolios in the Manmohan Singh government.
Army chief's allegations that he was offered bribe rocked Parliament on Monday with both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha adjourning twice after Opposition uproar.
The Congress appears to be veering round to taking a call on the contentious Telangana statehood issue with party leader in charge of Andhra Pradesh saying consultation process is over and time for a decision has come.
