Army chief's allegations that he was offered bribe rocked Parliament on Monday with both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha adjourning twice after Opposition uproar.
The N Kiran Kumar Reddy-led government in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday indirectly proved its majority in the House when Congress nominee Nandendla Manohar was elected the Speaker. In a division of votes, sought by the main opposition Telugu Desam Party, Manohar got 158 votes in a House of 294 while TDP nominee K E Krishnamurthy got only 90 votes.
The Telugu Desam Party, along with its Left allies, will raise the "mining mafia" issue in the forthcoming session of Parliament.
Telugu Desam Party President N Chandrababu Naidu has appealed to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy to immediately remove the tainted ministers who allegedly have links with the liquor mafia.
The Rajya Sabha was adjourned briefly on Wednesday as Samajwadi Party, Telugu Desam Party and All India Anna Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam members demanded Finance Minister P Chidambaram's resignation over certain references in a book on stock market.
The Telugu Desam Party indicated that it may support United Progressive Alliance candidate Pranab Mukherjee in next month's Presidential election.
The stage is set for the Telugu Desam Party's (TDP) much-publicised mega event, 'Yuva Garjana', to be held on the National Highway between Vijaywada and Guntur on Wednesday.
Mulayam Singh's bid to get a third front on his side is to get into a position where he can barter for the prime minister's job with the support of either the BJP or the Congress, says Seema Mustafa.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies on Tuesday welcomed the Union Budget and said it focussed on youth, farmers, women, and has 'substantial allocations' for Maharashtra, but the opposition slammed the annual financial statement, claiming it neglected the western state and only seeks to please the saffron outfit's partners in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.
Communist Party of India-Marxist's decision to fight the upcoming by-elections in Andhra Pradesh on its own has left the political arena in the state open. CPI-M's decision has rattled opposition Telugu Desam Party, which always saw a 'natural ally' in it.
Unidentified people demolished a life-size statue of late Andhra Pradesh chief minister N T Rama Rao at Jawahar Nagar on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Thursday night, triggering widespread protests from the Telugu Desam Party cadre in the state. TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, who was on his foot march in Guntur district, strongly condemned the vandalism and demanded that the culprits be brought to book immediately.
In a major relief to Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, the Andhra Pradesh high court in its interim orders on Tuesday stayed the preliminary probe by the Central Bureau of Investigations into his alleged disproportionate assets.
As a precursor to his political entry, Balakrishna on Friday inaugurated an 'Annadanam' (mass feeding) programme at the charitable trust named after his mother late Basava Tarakam, on Thursday. Replying to a query, he vowed to work for regaining the glory of TDP. He would participate in TDP's youth convention at Guntur later this month.
Speaking for the first time in the Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly after she was elected six months ago, YS Vijayalakshmi, widow of former Chief Minister Y S Rajashekhar Reddy, defended her son and member of Parliament YS Jaganmohan Reddy.
State Tourism minister Vatti Vasant Kumar and TDP legislator Chintamaneni Prabhakar shoved each other, after an eated argument on the dais during the 'Rachabanda' (mass contact programme), they said adding the MLA was later taken into custody.
The TDP and the YSR Congress forced brief adjournments of Lok Sabha proceedings demanding special category status for Andhra Pradesh.
Stepping up its campaign, a group of political parties from Telangana has set an ultimatum for the Centre asking it to announce a time-frame by Monday for formation of the separate state, failing which an indefinite bandh would be enforced from December 29.
'Chandrababu is wiser and a very good administrator.' 'Jagan is the opposite. He is not very wise, not a good administrator.'
Naidu broke the fast by taking a glass of coconut water following intervention by Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI general secretary A B Bardhan, Janata Dal-United chief Sharad Yadav, Rashtriya Lok Dal president Ajit Singh and other leaders who prevailed upon him to end the fast.
The BJP's bandh call, separately endorsed by the Maoists, was meant to mark protest against the delay in the formation of separate Telangana state by the Congress-led UPA government. However, the bandh evoked mixed response though the BJP leaders and activists went around the towns and cities across Telangana to enforce the call.
Accusing the UPA government of all-round failure, he said the people were yearning for a genuine alternative that was committed to the welfare of the poor.
The parties which gave chief ministers and sent scores of MPs to Parliament, drew a blank this time.
The Telangana Rashtra Samiti will never merge with any other party and will continue as the 'sole voice' of Telangana people even if statehood is granted to the region, party chief K Chandrasekhar Rao said on Tuesday. His remarks assume significance in the wake of comments by Telugu Desam Party leaders that Rao would merge TRS with the Congress in return for formation of a separate Telangana. He reiterated his decision to make a Dalit the chief minister.
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.
In fact they had been expecting the defeat once the United Nationl Progressive Alliance decided to abstain from the election and not support Shekhawat.
Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu's only son Nara Lokesh will soon follow in his father's footsteps and may contest the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
The Election Commission will start counting votes for Vidhan Sabha elections on May 23. The assembly elections were held in four states -- Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim -- simultaneously with the Lok Sabha Elections over April and May. The Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, and Sikkim Assemblies went to polls in the duration between 11 April and 19 May, and the Election Commission will declare the results for at least 534 assembly seats - which is almost as many as the Lok Sabha seats - on May 23.
Accusing the Congress and Telugu Desam Party leaders from Telangana of being insincere over their resignations in support of separate statehood demand, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and political Joint Action Committee on Wednesday announced an action plan to intensify the stir to make them quit and mount pressure on the Centre.
Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu suffered a minor injury to his back in a freak mishap, when the dais from which he was addressing a gathering, collapsed at Gadwal in Mahbubnagar district late on Friday night.
Besides the four Left parties, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Telugu Desam Party, Samajwadi Party, Biju Janata Dal, Janata Dal-Secular and Indian National Lok Dal "have decided to call for a country-wide hartal on July five", a joint statement by top leaders of CPI-M, CPI, Revolutionary Socialist Party and Forward Bloc said in New Delhi.
A backward class leader from neighbouring Ranga Reddy district, Goud -- who is also a member of the party's politburo -- had been mounting pressure on the leadership for an early decision on the demand for a separate Telangana state. The former minister had, off late, emerged a rallying point for protagonists of separate Telangana state within the TDP.
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 Telugu Desam party on Monday suffered a setback when one of its senior leaders and legislators Pocharam Srinivas Reddy announced his resignation from the party as well as the assembly. Srinivas Reddy, a former minister, told the media in his home constituency Banswada in Nizamabad district that he decided to quit the party because of the lack of clarity in its stand on the demand for a separate state of Telangana. Reddy said that he had made up his mind to join the TRS.
Known as the high-tech chief minister and sarcastically a chief minister of only Hyderabad, Telugu Desam Party supremo Chandrababu Naidu will find the going tough as he has to ready himself with some very hard questions from the rural folk of Andhra Pradesh who have very often termed him as anti-poor. Vicky Nanjappa lists some of these questions
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said the issue of alleged suicide by farmers hit by natural calamities in Andhra Pradesh would be looked into.The assurance was given by the prime minister to a delegation of seven opposition parties which met him to draw his attention to the plight of farmers in the southern state, Communist Party of India leader A B Bardhan told reporters after the meeting.The delegation also handed over to him a letter from TDP chief C Naidu.
In the biggest policy reversal in its 26-year-long history, the Telugu Desam Party on Thursday announced its support to the formation of Telangana state by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh.
Members of Parliament from the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam have threatened to forcefully occupy the office of Telugu Desam Party inside Parliament house next week.
