Telangana Rashtra Samiti supremo K Chandrashekhar Rao said that he will go on a hunger strike from February if until then the bill to form a separate Telangana state is not introduced in the Parliament. Rao's decision came at the Joint Action Committee meeting held in Hyderabad on Thursday night, hours after the Srikrishna Commission was made public.
The Telangana Political Joint Action Committee has issued an ultimatum to the Centre, asking it to announce a clear cut time-frame for the formation of a separate state by Monday evening, failing which an indefinite bandh would be called from December 29. "We will wait till Monday evening for the Centre's announcement, failing which there will be an indefinite bandh in the entire region from Tuesday," Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrasekhar Rao said.
The Andhra Pradesh government has asked chief secretary Pankaj Dwivedi to engage Telangana Employees Joint Action Committee leaders in talks to end the ongoing strike that entered the 31st day on Thursday.
The Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday appealed to Telangana employees not to put common people to inconvenience and invited them for talks on Thursday to discuss the strike notice served by them.
The issue pertaining to the formation of a separate Telangana state is expected to heat up further with two major meetings scheduled for February 7.
The general strike called against the ongoing Telangana agitation in Andhra and Rayalseema region turned violent at many places on Monday. The bandh called by the all party Joint Action Committee in favour of united Andhra Pradesh hit the normal life in all the 13 districts of the two regions.
The convenor of the Joint Action Committee spearheading the agitation for Telangana on Thursday warned the outfit might resort to non-cooperation movement if the Centre failed to meet its January 28 deadline for declaring a separate state.
Seeking to mount pressure on the ruling Congress leaders, the Telangana political Joint Action Committee on Monday asked them to quit their posts and join the "strike by all sections of people" scheduled to start from next month.
Normal life was disrupted in non-Telangana regions of Andhra Pradesh, as the bandh called by the All-Party Joint Action Committee (JAC) in support of United Andhra Pradesh began on Monday.
Members of the Telangana movement's Joint Action Committee will soon embark on a journey to Egypt to pick up a few lessons on how to conduct a successful agitation. A massive rebellion in Egypt had ended the autocratic regime of Hosni Mubarak and forced him to step down after decades of misrule.
Political Joint Action Committee chief Professor Kodanda Ram says that there is no way in which this agitation is going to stop.
Further deepening the current crisis in Andhra Pradesh over Telangana, political parties and organisation of students, teachers and intellectuals have formed a new Joint Action Committee to fight to preserve the unity of the state. The new body has called for a bandh on January 4.
The Seemandhra Lawyers Joint Action Committee has requested the Andhra Cricket Association to cancel the November 24 India-West Indies ODI scheduled at Visakhapatnam, as it will "hurt feelings of crores of Samaikyandhra agitators fighting for a united AP."
The second day of the bandh call for Friday on the Telangana issue stands withdrawn in view of Christmas, a joint action committee of Telangana leaders has announced.
The party, which was expecting to win at least three seats in the region this time, feels that the statements by senior leaders L K Advani and Sushma Swaraj on Thursday are counter-productive to their future plans. Vicky Nanjappa reports
The Centre on Thursday evening took the first significant step towards creation of a separate Telangana state from out of Andhra Pradesh and decided that Hyderabad will be the joint capital of the two states for 10 years.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi President K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday sought to douse the controversy over his remarks that state government employees from Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra working in Telangana should go back to their respective regions, saying no one need go anywhere.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court has granted permission for Osmania University students to take out the proposed rally over the Telangana statehood on Sunday.
Different employees' and workers' unions of the TSRTC began an indefinite strike on Friday midnight across Telangana on a call given by the Joint Action Committee of the corporation, demanding merger of the RTC with the government and recruitment to various posts, among other things.
The Congress which was snubbed by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi has decided to rope in members of the Telangana Joint Action Committee to fight the elections on their ticket.
Joint Action Committee head Professor M Kodandaram says that looking at the atrocities being committed on students by the Andhra Pradesh government, the political JAC has decided to act fast and not wait until February to start their aggressive campaign for a separate state.
The protests at the Osmania University, which has been the nerve centre of the movement, have intensified and two buses have been burnt down despite heavy police presence. Protests were also witnessed at the Dharna Chowk locality in Hyderabad.
Alleging that the Congress lacks the political will to carve out a separate Telangana, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday demanded that the full content of the Srikrishna Committee report on formation of the state be made public.
Braving attacks by pro-Telangana elements, nearly one lakh employees from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions congregated in Hyderabad on Saturday for a rally, which gave the call to keep the state united.
Even as pro-Telangana students are preparing to launch an indefinite hunger strike from July 11 at the Osmania University in Hyderabad, to press for Telangana statehood demand, police on Saturday denied permission to it.
The Srikrishna Committee on the Telangana issue has said it would wrap up consultations with key stakeholders by July this year and urged the Joint Action Council, which is spearheading the agitation for a separate state, not to boycott it. V K Duggal, member-secretary of the five-member Committee, who arrived in Hyderabad on Tuesday night to put in place the necessary infrastructure to start its work, said, "We will get enough material to give a balanced report".
A series of protests continued in the Seemandhra region of Andhra Pradesh for the sixth consecutive day on Monday against the Congress and the United Progressive Alliance's decision to bifurcate the state for creation of Telangana.
Rejecting Chidambaram's statement that there was a lack of political consensus, the TRS, BJP and all other parties have called for a 48-hours strike in Telangana region from Thursday to intensify their fight for Telangana.
The Andhra Pradesh Police on Tuesday stepped up security across the state saying they were well prepared to maintain law and order particularly in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions in the wake of the decision to create separate Telangana.
Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday met President Pranab Mukherjee and leaders of political parties in an attempt to find an amicable solution to the problem of division in New Delhi Andhra Pradesh and creation of Telangana state.
The fast, to be held at the Jantar Mantar, would see a large number of students and politicians, Dr Sangam Prithviraj, chief of the Students Joint Action Committee for Telangana confirmed.
A day ahead of the call for march to the legislative assembly to press their demand for a separate state, the police on Wednesday cracked down on pro-Telangana activists on the Osmania University campus, taking into custody around 50 of them.
The TRS on Tuesday alleged that the Centre was being 'insensitive' in not bifurcating the high court so far.
Students, employees and other supporters of united Andhra Pradesh continued protests in the Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions on Tuesday, amid indications that the ruling Congress would take a decision in favour of separate Telangana.
The protests at the Osmania University, which has been the nerve centre of the movement, have intensified and two buses have been burnt down despite heavy police presence. Protests were also witnessed at the Dharna Chowk locality in Hyderabad.
Tension flared up across Andhra Pradesh on Saturday as pro Telangana students of Osmania University in Hyderabad assaulted a group of teachers from Andhra and Rayala Seema regions, who had come to evaluate B.Ed papers.
Seeking to mount pressure on the Centre for a favourable decision on the Telangana issue, TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday demanded that all public representatives quit their posts by January 28 as per the deadline set by all-party Joint Action Committee (JAC).
The Seemandhra Lawyers Joint Action Committee on Thursday said about 18 lakh cases were pending in various courts in 13 districts of Seemandhra as their protest against the Centre's decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh entered 100th day today.
The Telangana Rastriya Samithi and other pro-state activists have decided not to celebrate until the bill is passed in Parliament. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
It will now take at least two more years to get a clarity on the priorities and policies of the leadership of the new state of Telangana.