Actor turned politician Chiranjeevi got a taste of the murkier side of politics on Tuesday, when workers of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti pelted eggs at the megastar at Narsampeta in Warangal district. Smeared in egg yolk, Chiranjeevi was forced to make an unscheduled stop at a school to take a bath. "This is not good, not proper. You should not indulge in such things," Chiranjeevi said even as his security guards tried to shield him.
Even as legislators of the Telugu Desam Party and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti hailing from Telangana region decided to go ahead with their resignations in support of a separate state on Friday, the Congress group from the region softened its stand and on Tuesday aborted its visit to New Delhi to pressurise the party high command.
The announcement came after several senior party leaders revolted against him, holding him responsible for the debacle of the party in the recent elections. Also, a group of rebel TRS leaders launched a new non-political organisation -- Telangana Vimocana Samiti -- to continue the struggle.
It was a landslide victory for the Telangana Rashtra Samiti candidates in 11 out of 12 assembly constituencies that went for by-polls in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh on July 27.
Two crucial issues will be discussed at the all party meet convened by the Centre to discuss the Telangana crisis on January 5 -- the future status of Hyderabad and introducing a resolution on the creation of a separate state in the Andhra Pradesh assembly.The Centre has already prepared its replies to queries related to these two points, in case they are raised by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti or the Bharatiya Janata Party, during the meeting.
In a bid to find a way out of the Telangana imbroglio, the Centre on Wednesday convened a meeting in New Delhi on January 5 of 8 recognised political parties in Andhra Pradesh for a discussion on the issue.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrashekhar Rao on Tuesday said he is ready to hold talks with the Centre but will not accept any committee to look into the Telangana issue. "The Centre should immediately come forward and find a solution. We demand that it sticks to its earlier statement. We are not ready to accept any committees. Except wasting time, these committees serve no purpose," he said. "The patience of Telanagana people need not be tested unnecessarily," he said
Handed down by the Mahatma as a medium to peacefully protest for a cause, hunger strikes have, however, been used by many politicians for achieving individual and petty goals. Many leaders have been successful while some failed in getting their demands conceded, but fasting is still considered an effective weapon of protest in Indian polity.
The flames engulfing Andhra Pradesh today -- now threatening to scorch even distant Assam and Bengal -- were lit as far back as 1920.
TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, who ended his 11-day fast undertaken to press for Telangana state, was shifted out from ICU of the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in Hyderabad.
Sporadic incidents of violence and suicide by at least three activists marred the Telangana Bandh called by Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) on Monday to protest against the arrest of its president, K Chandrasekhara Rao and police cane charge on students in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K Chandrasekhar Rao was on Sunday detained near Karimnagar ahead of his proposed fast unto death for separate Telangana.
Naidu, whose 150-day-long Mee Kosam Yatra entered the West Godavari district on Sunday night spoke to Rao for 15 minutes, well informed and reliable sources in the TDP said. Since Chandrasekhara Rao left the TDP in 2001 and launched the movement for Telangana and formed his own political party, it was first time that the two leaders spoke directly.
The Grand Alliance of four opposition parties -- Telugu Desam, Telangana Rashtra Samiti, the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India Marxist -- who have decided to make the alleged corruption of the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy-led Congress government the main issue in the coming assembly elections, on Friday demanded that the chief minister be prosecuted under the Prevention of Corruption Act. A delegation of the Grand Alliance leaders met Governor N D Tiwari.
Elections to four Lok Sabha seats -- Karimnagar, Hanamkonda, Warangal and Adilabad -- and 18 assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh following resignation by Telangana Rashtra Samiti members would be held on May 29. The EC said bypolls to three other Lok Sabha seats -- Hamirpur (HP), Thane (Maharashtra) and Tura (Meghalaya) as also four assembly seats -- Indri, Gohana and Adampur in Haryana and Amritsar South (Amritsar) would take place on May 22.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti on Monday appealed to Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan to use his good offices to fix a lesser time-frame for the proposed committee to be appointed by the Centre to go into the Telangana issue.
In a reflection of the serious trouble brewing in the ranks of Telangana Rashtra Samiti, the party's beleaguered president K Chandrasekhara Rao faced the wrath of the party cadre during a visit to Nalgonda district.
KCR said despite 'bhaashanbaazi', industries are closing down, the nation's GDP is crashing and the rupee is falling drastically compared to the US dollar.
In a late night development, Telangna Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrashekhara Rao did another volte face when he told the media that he had not withdrawn his fast unto death and it was the police which had forced him to take the fruit juice in the hospital.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K Chandrasekhara Rao said he was ready to lay down his life for the cause of separate Telangana state and made a final appeal to the government of India to start the process of formation of separate state immediately.
Reports said that contract killers have been hired to kill Gaddar, after a recent Maoist attack killed 38 policemen on the Andhra Pradesh-Orissa border of June 29.
The JD-U, may be the BJP's partner for now. But it is a party at all only because of Nitish Kumar. The day Nitish Kumar exits, the JD-U will split into hundreds of pieces. Obviously, Prashant Kishor is setting himself up as the vessel that will collect all the pieces and put them together in some sort of political instrument, explains Aditi Phadnis.
The Grand Alliance of opposition in Andhra Pradesh, headed by the Telugu Desam chief N Chandrababu Naidu, continues to suffer from teething problems and confusion. In a setback to the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, one of the constituents of the alliance, the TDP president Chandrababu Naidu has made it clear that the GA will not have any common agenda or program.
The crisis in the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, triggered by the resignation of party president K Chandrasekhara Rao after the defeat of the party in the recently held by elections, blew over on Wednesday with Rao withdrawing his resignation. Rao had sent his resignation to party general secretary Madhusudhanachary on Tuesday accepting the moral responsibility for the party's defeat in the by election. The TRS had lost two of its four Lok Sabha sets and seats.
The grandiose plans of the opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh to form a 'grand alliance' to ensure the defeat of ruling Congress party were lying in tatters as the recently established relations between the main opposition Telugu Desam Party and powerful regional party Telangana Rashtra Samiti reaching a breaking point on the issue of seat sharing.
Wishing him, President Droupadi Murmu said the work for nation-building under his incomparable hardwork, dedication and creativity continue to advance.
As the Opposition held its first meeting on the Presidential polls and names of Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi also cropped up, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party reached out to several parties across the political spectrum to build a consensus choice with senior party leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh speaking to Sharad Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress), Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool Congress), Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) and Naveen Patnaik (Biju Janata Dal).
The four TRS MPs -- Vinod Kumar, Ravindra Naik and T Madhusudan Reddy -- submitted their resignation to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. The TRS chief had announced on Sunday at a rally in New Delhi that MPs of his party will tender their resignation from the Lok Sabha, as the Congress with whom it fought elections on the issue, had ditched it after coming to power.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti President K Chandrasekhara Rao tells B Dasarath Reddy that statehood for Telangana is certain before or immediately after the 2009 general elections.
'Victory and defeat are an integral part of life. Today's results will further our resolve to serve people and work even harder for the development of India,' Modi said.
Janata Dal - Secular chief H D Deve Gowda on Wednesday said the final shape of the Third Front would be known only after the Lok Sabha elections."The first part of the alliance is ready. The second part would be decided only after the election results are announced," Gowda said. He added that "all secular parties will rise to find a solution on forming the government at the Centre".
By resigning from the Telugu Desam party, 56-year-old Tulla Devender Goud has not only created a political storm, but has also put a new life in to the dormant movement for the Telangana movement.
Of the 16 assembly seats in Telangana, which went to the bypolls because of en masse resignation of the TRS members, TRS could retain only seven seats. Similarly of the four Lok Sabha seats, which TRS resigned from last year, the party could retain only two and other two were shared by the Congress and the TDP. The ruling Congress party wrested five and the TDP bagged four assembly seats earlier held by the TRS.
Senior leader Oscar Fernandes, who is currently minister without portfolio, could be brought full time to the organisation amid reports that the known loyalist of the party chief could get a key assignment.
Rao has called off his strike after a request from the Lok Sabha Speaker.
TRS members refused to co-operate and disrupted proceedings.
TRS Ministers K Chandrasekara Rao and A Narendra will tender their resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later in the evening.
Among the parties that boycotted the proceedings of the House included the Congress, which was the among the first to walkout, followed by members of the CPI-M, CPI, TMC, NCP, SP, Shiv Sena, RJD, DMK, TRS and AAP.
President's Rule imposed in united Andhra Pradesh was revoked partially on Monday to facilitate swearing in of a government in the newly-created Telangana headed by TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances