Populism gains momentum during election periods, and this trend is evident in at least four states: Telangana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
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'.
A youth allegedly attempted suicide in support of Telangana demand during an official programme attended by a ruling Congress MLA in Warangal on Thursday.
Even if the BJP gets 60, 70, or even 100 per cent of the votes in the seats where it scored more than 50 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, these will still add up to only 224 seats, argues Shekhar Gupta.
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.
Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, a strong political stakeholder in Hyderabad, has expressed apprehensions that the central government was contemplating giving the city the status of an Union Territory while creating Telangana state and warned that the party will fight tooth and nail against any such move.
With key UPA allies -- the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Trinamul Congress and Nationalist Congress Party members -- clearly expressing their resentment to a new state, sources say the Congress is now looking to find a way out of the situation.
'Rahul should have learnt so much in the last 20 years. But give him a mic and he begins to talk without thinking about its consequences.'
YSR Congress president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has been very cautious about the Telangana issue. Although Telangana supporters believe that he is opposed to the idea of forming a separate state, he has never said it in as many words.
With the party fielding three Union ministers, besides four other MPs, as candidates in the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls, it may continue with the strategy in Rajasthan.
On one hand, South Indian states have been complaining about denial of a proportionate portion of the sharable funds from the Centre, based on population. On the other hand, they stand to lose Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha seats that again are based on population, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
A provisional order has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against the newspaper's publisher Associated Journals Ltd and its holding company Young Indian, the central probe agency said in a statement.
In their dissent notes, the opposition members alleged that the inquiry process is a "farce" and a "proverbial kangaroo court".
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.
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 federal agency issued a summons to Vaibhav Gehlot (43) last week, asking him to appear before the investigating officer of the case at its headquarters on A P J Abdul Kalam Road here under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act.
'If he has not achieved 'Congress mukt Bharat' even now, the question of his creating a 'DMK mukt Tamil Nadu' does not arise,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
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.
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.
Gandhi refused to comment on the tragedy in Morbi where a bridge collapsed leaving more than 130 dead.
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.
He served as Union minister of information and broadcasting in the IK Gujral government and was allotted different portfolios in the Manmohan Singh government.
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.
Rahul Gandhi said that instead of getting involved in the Sanatan dharma row, the leaders should focus on the poor and their issues as they have been the party's traditional vote bank, the sources said.
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.
Is the unusually and unbearably scorching Sun and the general laxity, bordering on laziness, among voters, responsible, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Bharatiya Janata Party replaced at least 25 sitting MPs with new faces as the party released its second list of 72 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on Wednesday.
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.
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.
After Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram would go for polls this year.
Should he begin the yatra from Gujarat's Porbandar, the birthplace of the Mahatma, on October 2, and skip campaigning for the five assembly polls?
Maharashtra is the BRS' first target.
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.
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.
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.
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