Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the ongoing delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir has to happen quickly so that polls can be held to instal an elected government that gives strength to its development trajectory.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, the political face of the pro-Telangana movement, and his supporters held the sit-in and 'observed silence' at Rajghat for a few hours on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti to highlight the "grave situation" in Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh.
The Telangana statehood issue is taking a heavy toll on principal opposition Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to chair a meeting with all political parties from Jammu and Kashmir on June 24 as part of the Centre's initiatives to bolster political processes, including holding assembly elections, in the union territory, officials said in New Delhi.
The legislation was passed by 125 votes in favour and 61 against.
The multi satellite operators in the Telangana region have decided to join the battle for a separate statehood. The operators have blacked out one news channel in Telangana stating that the channel was showing the movement of separate statehood in a bad light.
Facing the heat over statehood demand, YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Saturday said his outfit "respects the sentiment" of Telangana people and demanded that the Centre immediately take a "right decision" on the contentious issue.
He served as Union minister of information and broadcasting in the IK Gujral government and was allotted different portfolios in the Manmohan Singh government.
The Telugu Desam Party on Wednesday night announced that it would not attend the all-party meeting convened by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in Delhi on Thursday to discuss the Srikrishna Committee report on Telangana statehood issue. In a letter to Chidambaram, TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu said it was for the Centre to take the decision on the issue.Telangana Rashtra Samiti and BJP have already said they will not be attending the meet on Friday.
Another Telengana is brewing in Assam with the state's largest tribal group, Bodos reviving their old demand for statehood and it is official now, thanks to the raging Telengana movement in Andhra Pradesh.
Alleging that Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress have joined hands to stall Jan Lokpal bill, Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday said its government would ensure passage of the proposed legislation in the assembly's special session without prior approval of the Centre.
Maharashtra Minister for Food and Civil Supplies and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh on Monday announced full support to Vidarbha statehood and agreed to join the proposed Vidarbha bandh call on January 20.
Each of Assam's border disputes has its own legacy of claims and counter-claims:
The Justice Srikrishna Committee on Telangana extended the deadline for sending representations on the statehood issue till April 10 instead of March 31 as announced earlier. The Committee headed by B N Srikrishna issued a public notice, which said representations on the contentious statehood issue will be received till April 10.
The Telangana issue has rekindled Bodo tribe's demand for statehood in Assam besides adding fire to the long-standing statehood demands of different other ethnic communities including Karbi, Dimasa, Koch-Rajbongshi.
Our election slogan is simple "Ballot for Bullet".
Amid the Centre's move to initiate the process for the creation of a separate Telengana state, the demand for statehood to Vidarbha in Maharashtra gained momentum, as former Union minister Vilas Muttemwar on Thursday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demanded a separate state for the region. Muttemwar, senior Congress Member of Prlaiment from Nagpur and protagonist of the statehood campaign for Vidarbha, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
'I had emphasised this during our meeting with the PM.' 'Given our location, I had warned that there is a sensitivity involved as this is a frontier state.' 'The atmosphere around us is not conducive. But who listens?'
With no agenda announced for the meeting, the leaders from Jammu and Kashmir said they have come with an open mind.
The committees headed by a cabinet minister will have bureaucrats and maybe a local representative as members and they will visit the disputed sites, interact with the civil society members and complete the discussions within 30 days, Sarma said.
The National Conference, the People's Democratic Party and the Congress on Saturday said they will take a call on attending a meeting with the prime minister in Delhi after deliberations within their respective parties, while the Bharatiya Janata Party expressed hope that all invitees will take part in the all-party deliberations.
'Everyone knows Pakistan is doing it.' 'But what are we doing? We should not incite more violence.'
Wednesday's expansion shows that Modi still has a keen eye on Bengal. The BJP is gearing up for the panchayat elections in Bengal next May and the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
'Goa is a tiny state, but in terms of its Business of Politics, several powerful lobbies of India are involved in it, be it the mining lobby, hoteliers' lobby, casino lobby, hawala lobby, drugs lobby etc.'
Explaining how she sent her notes back to her mother, Iltija said, "My grandmother found an ingenious solution. The letter I wrote was folded into a tiny square and carefully sealed, rolled and locked inside the middle of a chapatti."
In Srinagar, wearing black bands, scores of PDP leaders and activists, led by party president Mehbooba Mufti, took out a protest march from the party's head office near the Sher-e-Kashmir Park.
A case registered against Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and his predecessor P Chidambaram in Hyderabad for allegedly "cheating" Telangana people through "misleading" statements about the separate statehood has been closed for lack of evidence, Cyberabad police said on Monday.
The Goa Language Act granted official language status to Konkani and treated Marathi on par with Konkani.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday met the 13-year-old girl, who was brutally raped and has been admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Science, and raised the issue of granting full statehood to Delhi in order to curb such incidents which "occur repeatedly".
The Sikhs, especially in Punjab, are already angry and frustrated, cautions Shekhar Gupta.
The total number of states in the country will be now 28 while the total UTs will go up to seven.
Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party on Monday promised reservations to Muslims as well as Marathas, implementation of Rajinder Sachar committee report, and support for `statehood to Andaman and Nicobar' in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, released in Mumbai.
Congress candidate from Rajasthan's Tonk-Sawaimadhopur constituency Mohammed Azharuddin tells rediff.com's PB Chandra about the tough battle ahead, his plans for the region and his view on statehood to Telangana.
Misuse of the Article 370 is the root cause of cross-border terrorism, he said.
People in India's newest state Telangana may be celebrating. But 35 lakh residents of state capital Hyderabad, who hail from the Seema-Andhra region, life seems to have become "different".
'And Nana Patole fits the bill perfectly.' 'There is nothing wrong in being aggressive and today Patole is our angry young man.'
The division of Andhra Pradesh will see not just a change in the geographical profile of the state but will also totally alter the political landscape across the regions and re-write the fortunes of all major parties.
Describing the Bharatiya Janata Party's stand on separate statehood for Vidarbha akin to "protectors becoming perpetrators", the Shiv Sena on Wednesday reminded its former ally of the resounding mandate it got in Vidarbha and said the vote was in favour of development and not for a separate statehood.
'Earlier we had been told we were the crown of India.'
Initial reports reaching Hyderabad from the region indicate the Road Transport Corporation bus services were partially affected as protesters staged dharnas in front of depots in Telangana districts, including Hyderabad.
