Lingaiah reportedly confessed that he met Rashid, the alleged kingpin in the trafficking scam, who surrendered before the CCS police on May 3 and admitted having obtained a fake passport in the name of his wife for a Gujarati woman.
Congress leaders and political analysts feel that Congress president Sonia Gandhi should have visited Telangana after the Parliament passed the Telangana Bill and after the Telangana Rashtra Samithi refused to ally with the Congress. Vicky Nanjappa reports
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Sunday decided not to attend the meeting called by Home Minister P Chidambaram in New Delhi on Thursday to discuss the Justice Srikrishna Committee report on Telangana, saying there would be divergent views at the meeting as parties will have members from both regions.
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.
Trouble began when the Speaker disallowed adjournment notices on the multi-crore rupee scam relating to misappropriation of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan funds amounting to 40 crore.
The Telangana Rashtra Samiti on Friday gave a notice to Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar seeking to move a no-confidence motion against the Congress government for "failing to keep its promise on the Telangana statehood issue."
A Mulsim would be made the deputy chief minister and 12 per cent reservations provided to the community after the formation of separate Telangana state, Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao said in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Praja Rajyam president Chiranjeevi lacks sympathy for Telangana though he says that he is equally concerned about all regions of Andhra Pradesh, TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao has alleged.
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.
K Chandrasekhar Rao, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and Telangana chief minister-elect, has called for a shutdown in the region on Thursday to protest the Centre's reported move to issue an ordinance merging certain villages in Khammam district into residuary Andhra Pradesh.
It is now more or less certain that the film actress-turned-politician Vijayshanti will quit the Telangana Rashtra Samiti as the party president K Chandrasekhara Rao has not included her in the 23 member politburo.
Addressing a poll rally at bypoll-bound Munugode Rao segment, Rao referred to the TRS MLAs case and said 'brokers' from Delhi came and attempted to bribe the MLAs by offering Rs 100 crore each.
Tension prevailed in parts of Hyderabad on Saturday following fresh attacks by students and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) activists in their demand of separate statehood of Telengana.
Suspected Telangana Rashtra Samithi activists attacked the camp office of former Union Minister and Congress leader Renuka Chowdhary in Khammam, accusing her of being against a separate state of Telengana.
Scores of Telangana Rashtra Samithi workers and activists of separate statehood groups were on Monday taken into preventive custody at different places when they tried to stop the convoy of YSR Congress Honorary President Y S Vijayamma who was on her way to hold a 'dharna' in support of weavers' problem in Sircilla of Karimnagar district.
Hitting out at Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy for rejecting the AP Reorganisation Bill, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Thursday said the move cannot stop formation of Telangana.
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.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, on a fast for the last six days demanding a separate Telangana state, was on Saturday shifted to the ICU of a Hyderabad hospital after his condition deteriorated, even as the party called a two-day bandh in the region from Monday.
Maharashtra is the BRS' first target.
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.
The second day of the bandh call for Friday on the Telangana issue stands withdrawn in view of Christmas, a joint action committee of Telangana leaders has announced.
The public transport system in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh bore the brunt on the second day of the 48-hours strike called by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi in support of a separate state.
Jopalli Krishna Rao, Dr Rajaiah and S Sathyanarayana tendered their resignations to Andhra Pradesh Congress chief B Sathyanarayana.
The political scene in Andhra Pradesh took an interesting turn on Tuesday with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti deciding to join the Grand Alliance comprising the Telugu Desam Party, the Communist Party of India - Marxist and the Communist Party of India. The TRS' decision came as a major setback for the ruling Congress and a rude shock for the fledgling Praja Rajyam Party of actor Chiranjeevi, as they desperately sought to align with the pro-Telangana outfit.
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.
Asserting that it won't compromise on the separate Telangana demand, Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Wednesday said a states' reorganisation commission, if appointed by the Centre to go into the issue of formation of new states, would not be acceptable to it.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's comments seeking the Andhra Pradesh Assembly to reiterate its previous resolution on Hyderabad free zone issue is "senseless", the Telangana Rashtra Samithi alleged in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti founder president K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday resigned from his post owning moral responsibility for his party's debacle in the recent bypolls in Andhra Pradesh. Rao, whose party failed to retain even half of the seats it had vacated, sent his resignation letter to the party general secretary T Madhusudhanchary.
Fifteen MLAs belonging to the Telangana Rashtra Samiti have been suspended for a day from the Andhra Pradesh assembly on Monday as they disrupted proceedings demanding adoption of a resolution on the statehood issue.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Rajashekhar Reddy told reporters that TRS, which fought the assembly election in alliance with the Congress, would join the government on June 21.
Demanding introduction of a resolution favouring creation of separate Telangana state, the TRS members stormed the podium and obstructed the business of the assembly.
Announcing that it would not strike an alliance in the upcoming state and Lok Sabha elections, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Friday released its first list of candidates for 69 of the 119 assembly seats in Telangana region along with its poll manifesto.
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.
Ending speculations, Telangana Rashtra Samiti president and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Sunday said he would launch a national party following more discussions with a cross-section of society.
Condemning the alleged attack during the state-wide padayatra called praja prasthanam taken up by her in Warangal district on Monday, the YSR Telangana Party chief marched towards the chief minister's camp office.
In the last five years, 480 candidates with declared cases related to hate speech have contested elections to state assemblies, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the ADR said.
The reverses for the BJP in the Hindi heartland threw wide open the 2019 Lok Sabha elections which until a few months ago appeared to be in the grip of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party.