The Congress Working Committee is likely to take a final decision on the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh to create a state of Telangana on Tuesday.
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.
The Congress has not found the answers to many niggling questions on Telangana, but the party has already chalked out a political game-plan in the new state, says a correspondent in Delhi
The BJP also wrote to the EC, urging it to postpone the date of counting as Sunday is a sacred day for Christians, and the entire day is devoted to church services throughout the state.
Even though the tug of war between the governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh over common admissions to engineering colleges is far from over, the Andhra Pradesh State Council for Higher Education has announced that it will go ahead with the already-announced schedule.
The Congress president during his year at the helm of the party has repaired the citadel for far more challenging years ahead, and played a crucial role in shaping the Opposition alliance.
Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.
After having gone out on a limb over the creation of Telangana, the UPA government is expected to go for the kill and do whatever it takes to pass the bill in Lok Sabha. But the question remains whether the Congress would really be able to push the bill in the noise and confusion. Renu Mittal reports.
Mukherjee said the demand for small states was not confined to Telangana alone but was there in other states also.
The B N Srikrishna Committee, set up by the Centre to look into the demands for the creation of a separate Telangana, has said that so far, it has not received any official report from the ruling Congress party and main opposition Telugu Desam Party.Committee chairman Justice BN Srikrishna, who arrived in Hyderabad on Thursday to discuss the issue with various political parties, said that some leaders of the two parties had presented their own reports to the committee.
The present dimensions of Andhra Pradesh politics is likely to change with over 1000 people's representatives deciding to submit their mass resignations on Tuesday after a crucial meeting of the Telangana Joint Action Committee in Hyderabad at 2 pm.
Telangana will be discussed at a 'secret' conclave of the All India Congress Committee in Surajkund on November 9, according to a top source in the AICC.
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 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 Group of Ministers on Telangana is likely to take up six official amendments to the Telangana Bill on Monday. The GoM will have daily meeting for three days from February 3 in New Delhi.
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.
It is important for every sort of development and governance in Telangana that the people identify completely with their governing structures. This identification confers legitimacy on a government -- not just elections and number of votes. That identification has been missing in Telangana for 700 years, says Dr Gautam Pingle in the first of a two-part series on the new state.
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.
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.
Taking the supporters of Telangana supporters by surprise the Union government has given its nod to the ambitious Information Technology Investment Region proposal for Hyderabad which envisions an investment of Rs 2.19 lakh crore in and around the city over the next 25 years.
Pushed to the corner by the deteriorating health condition of Telangana Rashtriya Samiti chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, the Congress on Wednesday night agreed to pass a resolution in the Andhra Pradesh assembly for the creation of a separate Telangana state, in a bid to defuse the current volatile situation. Addressing a press conference late on Wednesday night, Home Minister P Chidambaram said, "The process of creating a separate Telangana state will be initiated."
Protesting against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, Congress MP from Rayalseema region Rayapati Samba Siwaa Rao resigned from the primary membership of the party on Friday while heaping praise on Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
Worried over his deteriorating health, doctors have advised Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrasekhar Rao to call off his nearly ten day fast-unto-death.
Finance Minister and Congress trouble-shooter Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday took command of the consultations with Andhra Pradesh leaders to prepare the ground for the creation of Telangana, even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided against imposing President's rule in the troubled state after holding talks with Governor E S L Narasimhan. Assisting Mukherjee in the consultations are Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy and members of a core committee.
The TRS on Tuesday alleged that the Centre was being 'insensitive' in not bifurcating the high court so far.
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.
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.
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.
'There is a huge risk of misinformation and disinformation, and targeted campaigns that could potentially happen against candidates or to push certain narratives.'
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.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Saturday rejected suggestions that the suspension of 13 opposition members was linked to their protests over the recent security breach and recalled that the House had displayed exemplary solidarity and collective resolve when breaches had happened in the past.
'Some false information was carried to Delhi, these negative bits seemed to have played heavily.' Union Textiles Minister KS on why he opposes the Telangana decision.
The BJP has fielded 18 MPs, including four Union ministers, for the latest round of assembly polls so far -- seven each in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and four in Chhattisgarh.
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".
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.
MIM President Asaduddin Owaisi told rediff.com on Thursday that MIM was a political party responsible to the people and it cannot act under pressure from any committee or forum.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Tuesday poised to form the government for a third consecutive term with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance getting a majority in the Lok Sabha, notwithstanding crushing losses in three Hindi heartland states after a bitterly fought election that was projected as a referendum on his popularity.
Amid the growing clamour for a separate state of Telangana, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said there would be further consultations on the issue."I think the home minister had a meeting with leaders of political parties from Andhra Pradesh. They had gone back and will study the report of the Srikrishna Committee. There will be further consultations," Dr Singh said. His comments came at a time when Congress MPs from Telangana region have threatened to resign.
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.
