The Telangana movement gathered further steam as Telangana Rashtra Samiti President K Chandrasekhar Rao and party MP and actress Vijayshanti too resigning from Lok Sabha in support of the demand for a separate state. The two faxed their resignation letters to the Speaker on Tuesday morning.
Widespread protests, demonstrations, road blockades and rallies were held in several Telangana districts while Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) activists allegedly attacked Civil Supplies Department's godown and burnt vehicles in Mahabubnagar district.
Popular balladeer Ghaddar has made it clear that his proposed political party the Telangana Praja Front was not seeking to be an alternative to the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) but was a platform on which different organisations fighting for Telangana state will be brought together.
Telangana region -- Hyderabad and nine other districts -- remained tense on Wednesday night with fresh protests erupting near Osmania University as Pro-Telangana agitators pelted stones on buses and demonstrations broke out in different towns.
More than 30 legislators of Telangana region belonging to the TRS, Congress, Telugu Desam Party and Praja Rajyam Party have announced their resignation.
The fight would become more interesting as both candidates hail from Bihar, where the assembly elections are to be held soon, making it effectively a JD-U versus RJD contest.
The row kicked up by the ministers of Andhra and Rayala Seema region, who called agitators demanding a separate Telangana state 'anti-national and seditious', intensified on Thursday with pro-Telangana leaders urging the state governor to dismiss these ministers from the cabinet. A delegation of Telangana Rashtra Samiti and Telangana Joint Action Committee, headed by K Chandrasekhara Rao and Professor Kodanda Ram, met Governor ESL Narasimhan at Raj Bhavan.
"TRS welcomes the decision of the UP Chief Minister. It is a bold step. It is very good for democracy. She has also reiterated her support to the formation of Telangana. For her act of kindness, I thank her," TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao told media persons in Hyderabad before leaving for Delhi to attend the Parliament session.
Besides issuing notices to Telangana Rashtra Samiti, which is spearheading the stir, a bench of justices G S Singhvi and S Mukhopadhaya also issued notices to the registrar general of the high court and the state bar council and sought their replies on the plea.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti Member of Parliament and Telugu actress Vijayashanthi on Wednesday met veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani in Pragnapur, in her Lok Sabha constituency of Medak, amidst media reports that she might join the saffron party soon. Vijayshanthi, who was in BJP earlier, stood beside Advani, who is on his countrywide yatra, as he spoke from atop his rath. After concluding his speech, Advani said he welcomed her.
The Telangana Rashtra Samiti supremo's party symbol is a car.
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.
BJP's resurgent performance prompted the state leadership to describe it as a 'saffron strike', while party in-charge Bhupendar Yadav said it has now emerged as the 'only alternative' to the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led regional dispensation with people accepting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's brand of good governance.
Kicking off its consultation process over two months after it was constituted, the Justice B N Srikrishna Committee on Telangana on Friday heard a delegation led by Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhar Rao who strongly batted for a separate Telangana to be carved out of Andhra Pradesh.
The MLAs -- 10 from the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, 2 from Congress, one each from Bharatiya Janata Party, Telugu Desam Party and Praja Rajyam -- met Speaker N Kiran Kumar Reddy in Hyderabad and submitted their resignation. The legislators said they resigned in order to mount pressure on the Centre to take immediate steps for formation of a separate state.
Addressing a mammoth rally of Muslims in Hyderabad, organized byJamat-e-Islami Hind and its affiliated organizations Students Islamic Organization and Movement for Peace and Justice, TRS President K Chandrasekhara Rao said that Muslims constitute 12 to 15% of the population in the region. "They will get a proportional share in every thing including the budget", he said.
In a bid to carry forward the momentum created by the resignations of Telangana MLAs and MPs, the Telangana Joint Action Committee has called for a 48-hour strike in the region from Tuesday.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday warned that Telangana would burn if the Centre chose to constitute a regional development council and did not keep its promise of carving out a separate state.
Even as JAC, comprising the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and other people's organisations met in Hyderabad to chalk out the future course of action, TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu lashed out at TRS holding it responsible for Thursday's attack on his senior party colleague N Janardhan Reddy.
Rejecting Chidambaram's statement that there was a lack of political consensus, the TRS, BJP and all other parties have called for a 48-hours strike in Telangana region from Thursday to intensify their fight for Telangana.
Telangana supporters continued to target the Telugu film shooting for the second consecutive day on Wednesday.
'Namaste Telangana,' credited to be the first Telugu newspaper of Telangana region, has hit the stands all over the region on Monday with a record initial print run of 750,000.
After Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K Chandrasekhara Rao's 11-day fast forced the United Progressive Alliance government to concede to his demand for a separate Telangana state, some angry Congress leaders from Andhra Pradesh have threatened to go on a fast-unto-death themselves, to make the Centre reconsider its decision.Congress Member of Parliament from Vijaywada Lagdapati Rajagopal has declared that he will sit on a fast-unto-death in front of the assembly.
The Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly was adjourned on Tuesday with out transacting any business as members of Telangana Rashtra Samiti stalled the proceedings demanding that the House should adopt a resolution on formation of a spereate Telangana state.
With the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Praja Rajyam Party clamouring to join hands with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti over the demand for a separate state, pressure is mounting on Congress president Sonia Gandhi to initiate steps to deal with the issue immediately. The growing unrest within the party, especially among the leaders of Telangana region, came to the fore on Sunday with Congress Working Committee member G Venkat Swamy openly supporting the demand for Telangana.
Pro-Telangana protestors attacked the cavalcade of Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu in Mehboob Nagar on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Monday.According to reports, the former Andhra Pradesh chief minister escaped unhurt.
Breaking the lull in their agitation, the pro-Telangana activists have called for a strike on September 5 to stall the Group I preliminary examinations of the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission. The bandh call has been given by the Osmania University Students Joint Action Committee to press its demand for a quota for the Telangana region in Group I jobs of the state government. Their stand is being supported by the Telangana Joint Action Committee.
In a bid to intensify its demand of statehood for Telangana once again, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti has lined up a series of agitations this month.
While the DMK dubbed the meeting as only a 'courtesy visit', Rao did not meet the waiting reporters.
Buoyed up by the sweeping victory in the by elections to 12 assembly seats, Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K Chandrasekhara Rao on Friday appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi to take immediate steps for the formation of Telangana state.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday asked the party's supporters, especially students, to be prepared for a 'great war' when the Srikrishna Committee submits its report. "A great war will be inevitable after December. We have to keep our weapons sharp. Party leaders said they will enroll 10 lakh members. If these 10 lakh come on to the streets after December, can the government function," he said while addressing the party's student wing.
The bandh called by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Telangana Joint Action Committee and several other organisations brought normal life in the region to a grinding halt on Saturday. The bandh was called to protest Friday's firing on pro-Telangana activists who tried to stop the visit of Congress Member of Parliament from Kadapa YS Jaganmohan Reddy to Warangal district. Nearly five hundred pro-Telangana activists were arrested.
In an interview to rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, K T Rama Rao speaks about the ongoing agitation and on possibility of shaking hands with the Congress once Telangana is formed.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti President K Chandrasekhar Rao has ruled out the possibility of his party merging with the Congress on Monday. After the merger of Telgu superstar Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party with the Congress on Sunday, rumours were abuzz that TRS will do the same.
Creating a stir in the political circles, the film star-turned-politician and member of Lok Sabha of Telangana Rashtra Samiti, Vijayshanti, on Friday met the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.
Even as the executive committee of Telangana Rashtra Samiti is scheduled to meet on Saturday afternoon to discuss the resignation of K Chandrasekhara Rao as party president, the TRS suffered another blow deepening the crisis. as actress-turned-politician and member of Parliament Vijayshanti has also resigned as the secretary general of TRS in an expression of solidarity with the TRS chief.
Dr Sangam Prithviraj, who leads the students at the Osmania University in Hyderabad, says that they were foolish to trust TRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao and that now all students in all the 10 districts of Telangana will take the movement forward themselves.
With the Left parties' withdrawal of support from the Manmohan Singh led United Progressive Alliance creating a political uncertainty at the Centre, some leaders have started efforts to woo Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K Chandrasekhara Rao, to secure his support for the beleaguered coalition."I told him clearly that we will extend support to the UPA only if the government announces the formation of Telangana state," Rao told reporters in Hyderabad.
The Osmania University Joint Action Committee on Telangana on Tuesday appealed to political parties in Andhra Pradesh to field relatives of people who died during the agitation for a separate state when the by-elections are held in over ten constituencies in the state.Manavat Rai, a member of the OU Joint Action Committee, said the parties should field relatives of the people, especially students, who have 'sacrificed their lives for the cause of a separate state'.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti has postponed submission of resignations by its MLAs to the assembly speaker N Kirankumar Reddy by a few hours on the appeal of Telangana Joint Action Committee convenor Prof Kodandaram.