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 `Telangana Praja Garjana' rally, to be held at the Parade Grounds, comes days after the UPA's decision to constitute a sub-committee to examine the demand.
The demand for removal of Justice A K Ganguly, accused of harassing a law intern, from the post of Chairman of West Bengal Human Rights Commission, along with Telangana issue paralysed the functioning of Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
A day after 16 YSR Congress MLAs and one from Congress announced resignations in support of united Andhra Pradesh, two more ruling party legislators from non-Telangana regions today said they would also quit as the central leadership moves towards a decision on statehood.
There has been a mixed response to the latest statement of Uion home minister P Chidambaram on the issue of Telangana state promising large-scale consultations with all the political parties.
Time is running out for a hapless UPA govt over the Telangana bill, and the latest observation by the Rajya Sabha secretariat -- that the bill has financial implications and so must be introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha first -- has only worsened the crisis for the ruling alliance. Anita Katyal reports.
Keeping the Lok Sabha polls in mind, the Congress has chalked out a strategy in which all regions in Andhra Pradesh will remain happy, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
The commotion at Lok Sabha over the Telangana issue on Tuesday has reflected badly on the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance.
Prime minister Manmohan Singh and several Congress leaders are against the formation of a separate state but are supporting the decision in the hope that it would win the party seats in the region. Renu Mittal reports
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.
There is nobody like Jaipal Reddy in Congress party. He is slotted to be the first Congress chief minister of Telangana if and when the Congress gets hold of the reins of power. Ten minutes after the Lok Sabha passed the Bill Reddy spoke exclusively to rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt in the corridors of Parliament.
Shankar Rai, a Congress leader from Telangana intends to install a nine-foot statue of party president Sonia Gandhi, depicting her as 'Telangana Talli' or Mother Telangana, at a spot near the Bangalore-Hyderabad highway registered in his daughter name.
Union Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi on Thursday night resigned from his post in protest against the Union Cabinet's approval of the formation of separate Telangana, his aide said.
The PM is seen as slipping up in confidence levels as aired by his 'exposure' of the BRS on a crucial issue as alliance negotiations, which is not done under normal circumstances, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The lure of the17 Lok Sabha seats in the new Telangana state is driving Sonia Gandhi and her party to make every effort be made to push it through Parliament at the earliest.
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.
The promises of yore about bringing Telangana on par with the rest of Andhra Pradesh has been on paper and the intent not honourably translated into reality on ground. And those who prevented that from happening comprise the very section which is seeking to prevent, with unprecedented defiance, the creation of a new state. All political parties, except the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi have gone back on their poll assurances of Telangana's statehood
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.
The total number of those who have quit the Congress and embraced parties like the YSR Congress, Telugu Desam Party and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi stands at 75 today. To make matters worse, another wave of defections are expected to hit the party in the days to come.
The Odisha government told the assembly over 40,000 workers migrated from the state last year, with the highest number -- 26,151 -- from Balangir.
The Congress Core Committee met in New Delhi on Friday to deliberate on the delicate Telangana issue on which party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad submitted a report amid indications that a decision on it will take some more time. Amid mounting pressure from pro-Telangana groups whose agitation for a separate state continued for the 18th day on Friday, Congress' top brass, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi, met in Delhi.
Under fire from pro-statehood forces, Congress leaders from Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh are taking divergent stands on their future course of action for forcing the Centre's hand on the contentious issue.
Madhu Yashki Goud, senior Congress Member of Parliament from Telangana, who has been instrumental in the decision making on Tuesday, says these misconceptions are being spread by uncouth MPs from Rayalseema and Andhra.
Addressing a press conference, Pawar said the trends of the assembly polls (in five states set to be held in November) suggest the situation is favourable for the opposition, but added he had no authentic information to comment on whether there would be a change (in government) at the national level.
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.
'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'
The leaders of the Opposition INDIA bloc are meeting on Monday morning ostensibly to redraw their strategies to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP both inside the Parliament and in the electoral arena.
