Was a clash with Telagana Rashtra Samithi leader K Chandrashekhara Rao over the Medak Lok Sabha constituency the reason for Vijayashanthi leaving the TRS and joining the Congress? The actress-MP speaks to Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa.
Telangana Rashtriya Samithi chief K Chandrasekhar Rao meets Rahul; reportedly open for alliance in the Lok Sabha polls if he can get to be the CM of the new state, says Kavita Chowdhury
'Chamling's legacy is toxic.' '7 out of 10 teenagers in Sikkim abuse drugs.' 'The youth are dying and the future looks bleak.'
Creation of new state entails long drawn administrative process, could take as much as a decade
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has asked ally Shiv Sena to stop attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cautioning that it will only boomerang on it.
Celebrations have begun in Hyderabad and all across Telangana as India's 29th state was born at the stroke of midnight.
However, the Telangana statehood was not even on the agenda of the assembly which reconvened on Thursday morning.
"This 'notebandi' is a positive step which will lead to benefits. It will happen," the JD-U president said, terming corruption and black money as a "big sin and festering wound" which must be eradicated.
'Imagine a situation where an upright officer refuses to carry out a chief minister's or a central minister's orders that he considers wrong.' 'Can he be summarily thrashed at a meeting at your residence, or in his own office?' 'If AAP legitimises political violence, there are many, many, tougher political leaders elsewhere to draw the wrong lessons,' warns Shekhar Gupta.
Alleging that ruling Congress is "not serious" about bringing Lokpal Bill, the Bharatiya Janata Party has said that the United Progressive Alliance government could have brought the anti-graft legislation long ago as there was consensus over the issue.
Bharatiya Janata Party's Chief Ministerial nominee Kiran Bedi today dodged AAP Chief Arvind Kejriwal's challenge for an open debate on crucial issues facing the city while Congress' Ajay Maken expressed readiness for such a "healthy" exercise in the run up to the assembly polls.
In his strongest assertion amid his ongoing tussle with the Arvind Kejriwal dispensation, top cop B S Bassi on Friday said it would be a "very unfortunate" day in the history of the capital if the Delhi Police comes under the city government and its functioning under the Centre's jurisdiction was "perfect".
The party, which was expecting to win at least three seats in the region this time, feels that the statements by senior leaders L K Advani and Sushma Swaraj on Thursday are counter-productive to their future plans. Vicky Nanjappa reports
The Group of Ministers on Telangana will meet in the first week of February to decide on the Centre's next course of action after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy sought extension of the deadline for discussing and returning the statehood Bill.
There are indications that the BJP may not be as enthusiastic as it was on the Telangana issue now that the Congress has cleared the decks for the creation of the new state.
Treading a cautious path on the Telangana issue, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy said in Hyderabad on Thursday that the Centre should address the complicated issues concerned with the bifurcation of the state first before it embarks on the process.
In an interview to television channel CNN-IBN, the Nationalist Congress Party chief said that the BJP will not be able to reap any benefits across the country by having Modi as its PM mascot.
By announcing Telangana, the Congress aims to kill two birds with one stone.
Kapil Mishra was one of the closest aides of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. However, in May 2017, the tides turned. A loyalist of the Aam Aadmi Party founder, Mishra shocked one and all by openly accusing him of corruption, a claim that the AAP dismissed. Since then Mishra has become one of the most prominent AAP rebels. In the face of the sit-in by Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and ministers - Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai at Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal's office, Mishra spoke to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com and said that this is the first time in history that a sitting chief minister of a state in India has kidnapped himself.
The strike by power sector employees has crippled life, badly hitting hospitals and water supply in Andhra Pradesh.
The government rejected the contention on Friday that it has developed any second thoughts on the issue of Telangana, saying that the process with regard to its creation is underway and won't be affected by assembly elections in five states.
'Their candidates are simple people who will be there in hours of need.'
Party insiders say middle class votes can be captured if Kiran Bedi is declared BJP chief ministerial candidate. Archis Mohan reports
Rumblings within Congress over its decision to form Telangana grew on Friday with its seven MPs, a state minister and seven MLAs from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions quitting amid indications that some more are likely to follow suit.
'The party had opposed FDI when it was in the Opposition. Now, its government has allowed FDI in all sectors.' 'Modi had opposed GST when he was chief minister. Now, he is strongly advocating it.' 'The BJP must come clean and inform its supporters and the people why it is diverging from its basic agenda.'
In his first interview after the announcement on Telangana, Jaipal Reddy spoke about the historical background of the movement, Narendra Modi and other issues.
Union Minister and Congress leader K Chiranjeevi on Saturday disapproved of his actor-brother Pawan Kalyan, who has launched a new political party, meeting Bharatiya Janata Partu's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
Days after he attacked Bharatiya Janata Party's PM candidate Narendra Modi over the 2002 riots issue, Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that BJP's "divisive" policy was responsible for spoiling the country's secular fabric and incidents of hate crime.
Describing Shiv Sena as a "natural ally", BJP dropped hints that it would prefer the estranged saffron party to be a partner in its government in Maharashtra even while Nationalist Congress Party's unconditional support continues to be on offer.
Amid speculation over a possible merger of his party with Congress or the forging of a likely alliance between the two, Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday met Sonia Gandhi, but said that no politics was discussed during their interaction.
Members were at their cordial best in Rajya Sabha on Friday as it met on the last day of a tumultuous session in which Telangana Bill was passed amid bedlam and vociferous protests a day before.
Time is running out for a hapless UPA govt over the Telangana bill, and the latest observation by the Rajya Sabha secretariat -- that the bill has financial implications and so must be introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha first -- has only worsened the crisis for the ruling alliance. Anita Katyal reports.
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.
Both the TRS and Congress are desperately looking for alliances to form the first government in Telangana, however, the last resort for both of them will be to join hands. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
With hours to go for the results to be out in one of the most keenly-watched assembly elections in Maharashtra, major parties are keeping their cards close to the chest as most exit polls projected a hung House.
Sharpening his attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Narendra Modi, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused them of trying to usurp the legacy of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and recalled the Congress stalwart's description of the RSS as "a venomous organisation" which could "finish" the country.
Centuries old religious conflicts may be nearing an inevitable end with the addition of nuclear warheads to their arsenal, says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
All is not well with Telengana and its Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao
In an exclusive interaction with Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, Congress MP Goud says that he is certain that the Telangana sentiment will work for him in Nizamabad. As he prepares for hectic campaigning, the leader says that the BJP, which was initially expecting to make some gains in the newly-formed state, has wasted its chances after it aligned with the Telugu Desam Party.
