Turmoil over Telangana statehood and a variety of other issues paralysed proceedings in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday prompting a comment from the Chair that he was "disturbed" and "disappointed" over lack of consensus to run the House.
Throwing his party's weight behind the Congress to ensure an Opposition win in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday said arguments by some favouring a front without the grand old party should be rejected.
The Congress in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh seems to be heading for a major setback, as at least three of the party members of Parliament have dropped clear indications that they were planning to quit the party and joint the Telangana Rashtra Samiti. Mohammed Siddique reports.
As the Congress prepares to replace Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, the Union Cabinet will study the home ministry's note on creating Telangana, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
Serious difference in Andhra Pradesh's ruling Congress party on the issue of Telangana state further deepened with ministers and other leaders stepping up their attacks directly on Chief Minister K Rosaiah.
A decision on the vexed issue of Telangana is expected before Monsoon session of Parliament which is likely to start after August 15.
As Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh remained shut on the second consecutive day in response to the 48-hour general strike call by the Telangana Joint Action Committee, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti has warned the Congress leaders of the region against any compromise with their central leaders.
In his post, Gandhi urged people to elect the Congress and said, "Rajasthan will choose free treatment. Rajasthan will choose cheaper gas cylinder. Rajasthan will choose interest-free agricultural loan. Rajasthan will choose English education. Rajasthan will choose OPS. Rajasthan will choose caste census."
The Congress is likely to make the Telangana issue a part of its manifesto in the forthcoming elections, reports Vicky Nanjappa
Campaigning ended on Wednesday evening for 102 Lok Sabha seats across 21 states and Union territories which will go to polls in the first phase on April 19 with top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) making a last-gasp effort to woo voters.
The formation of Telangana state appears to be heading towards a reality and the talk is that Congress president Sonia Gandhi has cleared it. Congress sources tell rediff.com that all through the meeting Sonia was inclined towards the formation of Telangana and she had expressed the same.
'The feeling in Telangana is that without her a separate state cannot be created... All the MPs and MLAs from Seema-Andhra have a business background. Their interest is to save their business,' Congress MP K Raj Gopal Reddy, who played a key role in Thursday's turbulent events, tells Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.
Andhra Pradesh's opposition parties attacked ruling Congress for leaving a decision on Telangana statehood issue to the party's highest decision-making forum Congress Working Committee.
The four names that are in the fray from the Congress are Jaipal Reddy, K Chandrasekara Rao, Damodar Raja Narasimha and D Srinivas.
Asserting that it won't compromise on the separate Telangana demand, Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Wednesday said a states' reorganisation commission, if appointed by the Centre to go into the issue of formation of new states, would not be acceptable to it.
Is the proposal by the GoM to form a new state -- Rayala Telangana -- with two more districts a political strategy? Vicky Nanjappa finds out
Veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday said he does not need an invitation from anyone to visit the newly-constructed temple in Ayodhya as Lord Ram resides in his heart.
What are the political equations, the challenges, and the threats?
Brushing aside opposition after dithering for nearly four years, the Congress and the United Progressive Alliance coalition on Tuesday unanimously endorsed creation of a separate Telangana state from out of Andhra Pradesh.
Normal life was disrupted in the Telangana region on Monday due to a bandh called by the Telangana Joint Action Committee to protest police action against members of parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly during Saturday's rail roko.
In a major organisational rejig ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress on Saturday appointed Avinash Pande the general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, replacing Priyanka Gandhi Vadra while Sachin Pilot was made the general secretary in-charge of Chhattisgarh.
The Odisha government told the assembly over 40,000 workers migrated from the state last year, with the highest number -- 26,151 -- from Balangir.
This time Modi has no emotive message to take to the stump. Muscular nationalism doesn't work against the backdrop of China's successive inroads into Indian territory. Rising prices is a sore point that cuts across class and caste barriers; unprecedented levels of unemployment has the youth in a ferment. This has reduced the BJP campaign to a laundry list of recycled grievances and thinly veiled communal appeals, neither of which are working as well as they have in the past, argues Prem Panicker.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who is leading the party's pan-India Bharat Jodo Yatra on Sunday gave some exciting moments during the foot march as he suddenly started to sprint along with some school children, forcing others to run.
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 total assets of seven Members of Parliament analysed from Telangana is Rs 5,596 crore, that of 11 MPs from Andhra Pradesh is Rs 3,823 crore, and 30 MPs analysed from Uttar Pradesh have total assets worth Rs 1,941 crore.
'If we get 399 seats and you say we have not crossed 400, then it is your wisdom. But the '400 paar' slogan is based on calculation and considered opinion'
In a clear message that the people of Telangana want a separate state, both the Congress and Telugu Desam Party were rejected by the electorate in the region, reports Mohammed Siddique
Ministers from Andhra and Rayalseema regions of Andhra Pradesh have invited the wrath of the votaries of Telangana by calling the Telangana movement 'anti national,' 'seditious' and a 'threat to the integrity of the nation.'
Notwithstanding advice that he might turn into a 'non-entity', the TRS president has conveyed to the Congress leadership that he must be made the chief minister of Telangana if the Congress is looking for a merger between the two parties.
The new TDP government will have to mop up over Rs 10,000 crore to fulfill the financial requirements for July, a retired senior bureaucrat said.
Veering towards conceding the demand for a separate Telangana, the Congress has convened a meeting of its working committee, the party's highest policy-making body, on Tuesday after deliberations on the issue in the United Progressive Alliance coordination committee.
In an exclusive interaction with Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, Congress MP Goud says that he is certain that the Telangana sentiment will work for him in Nizamabad. As he prepares for hectic campaigning, the leader says that the BJP, which was initially expecting to make some gains in the newly-formed state, has wasted its chances after it aligned with the Telugu Desam Party.
The war of words between the Telugu Desam Party and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti intensified on Sunday with TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao alleging that TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu had foiled the formation of a separate state of Telangana.
Over the last five days, Modi visited all of south, held roadshows, made an aggressive bid for his party, and took on the rivals with full gusto, especially the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu, and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi in Telangana that was in power for 10 years.
The Home Minister said creating a new state normally takes a period of eight to nine months but the central government would try its best to do it as early as possible.
The demand for a separate Telangana rocked Parliament on Thursday with Telangana Rashtriya Samiti, Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress members from the region forcing adjournment of both Houses till noon.As soon as the Lok Sabha met for the day, TRS members K Chandrashekar Rao and M Vijayashanti rushed to the Well, demanding formation of a separate Telangana. They were supported by BJP members. A section of Congress members from Andhra Pradesh too were seen in the aisle.
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.
Making a strong pitch for separate Telangana, Nationalist Congress Party Chief Sharad Pawar on told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that a delay in the matter would not be helpful.
Vicky Nanjappa analyses the options before the United Progressive Alliance to save its government in Andhra Pradesh and amicably resolve the Telangana statehood demand
