Only a constitutional and political crisis can ensure the formation of Telangana, K Chandrasekar Rao, the Chief of the Telangana Rastriya Samithi said in Hyderabad on Tuesday. His were the opening remarks at the Telangana Joint Action Committee meeting that was held on Tuesday to decide on the next course of action to be taken towards the formation of a separate state.
Keeping in mind the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections, President Pranab Mukherjee and the Centre have decided to extend by a week the deadline to discuss the Telangana bill.
The Telegu Desam Party made an effort to barge into the Raj Bhavan and demand an explanation from Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan as to why he gave a negative report regarding formation of a separate Telangana state.
The prospect of an upset worries the ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh as it faces a threat from a rebel candidate in the biennial election to Rajya Sabha slated for Friday.
HD Kumaraswamy, former chief minister, will contest from Channapatna where he had won the election defeating local heavyweight CP Yogeshwar in 2018.
The BJP, which rules the Centre, is in power in Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and is all set to get Madhya Pradesh back and snatch Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from the Congress after today's vote count.
Senior Congress leader and Union Minister Pallam Raju has voiced his opposition over carving a separate Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh and said it was becoming apparent there was no unanimity among MPs and MLAs in the state.
Over 42 per cent polling has been recorded till 1 pm in the by-elections to the 12 assembly constituencies in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday.
'If the TRS, with 75% seats in the Telangana assembly, can be coerced into a sense of resignation by a tiny party that has just 10% of seats, then questions have to be asked about KCR's mettle as leader,' says Sudhir Bisht.
He made the demand during a joint press conference with Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann who called on him in Hyderabad to discuss the issue of the Centre's ordinance.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday picked first-time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma as Rajasthan's new chief minister, ending days of speculation that followed its victory in the assembly polls.
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.
Excluding the Bharatiya Janata Party, which ardently opposed the bill both inside and outside the assembly, the entire Opposition supported the Backward Class, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Reservation Bill, 2017, which will be now debated and passed by the state legislative council.
The Congress needs to reorganise itself at the grassroots, infuse younger blood, and have more boots on the ground. Just offering freebies is not the answer anymore. Leadership matters, asserts Ramesh Menon.
The political crisis in Andhra Pradesh triggered by the Telangana issue showed no signs of easing on Sunday with four Telugu Desam Party leaders launching an indefinite fast opposing bifurcation of the state, even as ministers, who threatened to quit, maintained silence on their move.
Sources said while the Congress units of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan will hold separate discussions on May 26 on their preparations and actions to be taken, the party will also hold strategy meets on Chhattisgarh on May 27.
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.
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).
Dashing the last hopes of the Congress high command, Telangana Rashtra Samiti President K Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday categorically ruled out even an electoral alliance with the party for the forthcoming polls to the Lok Sabha and the state assembly.
It would certainly help if in the first five or ten years the new state had a Telangana United Front government which included all political parties and which then would dedicate itself to bringing about fast development for the neglected region, says Gautam Pingle in the final part of a two-part series on the new state.
Fast-unto-death by Congress Member of Parliament L Rajagopal and several other leaders, pressing for a unified Andhra Pradesh continued on Wednesday even as Chiranjeevi-led Praja Rajyam Party came under pressure from its MLAs to end its support for a separate Telangana.
Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker N Manohar on Friday admitted the notices for no-confidence motion given by the Telangana Rashtra Samithiand YSR Congress Party against the Congress-led state government.
Praja Rajyam chief K Chiranjeevi on Wednesday bought 15 days time from his MLAs to come out with a clear stand on the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh even as the party found itself in a muddle following speculation that he is now pitching for a unified state.
The Congress high command has sent across a stern message to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy that he will be disqualified if he does not toe the party line on the Telangana issue.
In Telangana, for more than two months, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao ran his government with just one cabinet colleague Mohammed Mahmood as Home Minister.
'Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Bengal can be the game changers of 2024.'
Andhra leaders are readying for a stormy session over Telangana tomorrow. Vicky Nanjappa reports
'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.'
President Pranab Mukherjee, the former trouble-shooter of the Congress party, may informally 'guide' the Union government in drafting the bill on the creation of Telangana.
The counting of votes will take place on November 6, the poll panel said in a statement.
Fifteen rebel members of Legislative Assembly belonging to Andhra Pradesh's ruling Congress and main opposition Telugu Desam Party were today disqualified for voting in favour of a no-confidence motion moved by TRS against the Kiran Kumar Reddy government in March this year.
Shinde also said directives will be issued to give the Kunbi caste certificates to blood relatives of a person who already possesses similar documents.
In the midst of mounting pressure from both pro and anti-Telangana leaders, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ahead of the crucial United Progressive Alliance and Congress working committee meetings to take a final decision on the separate statehood issue.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Wednesday said he aspired to become the CM of the state and also took a jibe at his 83-year-old uncle asking when will the Maratha strongman retire from active politics, as he appeared to be ahead in the numbers game for control of the Nationalist Congress Party after its vertical split.
Questioning the locus standi of the petitioner, the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation filed by former Member of Parliament M Narayana Reddy seeking a direction to the Andhra Pradesh assembly speaker to accept the resignation submitted by 139 MLAs on the Telangana issue.
Though the wily TRS supremo, credited with achieving the separate state of Telangana, stopped short of saying he was about to declare dissolution of the assembly, none doubted its imminence.
Telugu Desam Party legislators hailing from Telangana region have urged the state government to officially celebrate Hyderabad State Liberation Day on September 17. A delegation of TDP MLAs led by Nagam Janardhana Reddy and K Hareeshwar Reddy met Chief Minister K Rosaiah at his residence on Tuesday night and submitted a memorandum listing their demands.
'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.
A day-long bandh called by United Andhra supporters, including Telugu Desam Party and YSR Congress, against draft Telangana Bill hit essential services in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema districts on Friday, inconveniencing several citizens.
The 'black paper', titled '10 saal anyay kaal' also alleged that issues such as rising prices, unemployment, subversion of institutions and farmers' 'distress' had plagued the country.