Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Telangana fallout: Protests, bandh rock Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad: Several Ministers from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema on Wednesday remonstrated with Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy the decision on creation of Telangana even as protests erupted in non-Telangana regions of the state against the contentious move. 

Telangana protests: Events as they unfolded» 

Several ministers from non-Telangana region, who had threatened to quit if the Congress decided to carve a new state out of Andhra Pradesh, met Reddy and at least one of them--Erasu Pratap Reddy--said he had "already submitted" his resignation to the party. 

A group of ministers including T G Venkatesh, Erasu Pratap Reddy, Ganta Srinivas and Pitani Satyanarayana met the Chief Minister in the afternoon and discussed the fallout of the party high command's decision. 

"We (ministers and MLAs from the two regions) will meet again tomorrow and decide the course of action," Reddy and Venkatesh said after the meeting. 

"Nothing has happened yet. Only the Congress has announced its decision. We are still hopeful that the process (to create Telangana) will not go through," they said. 

Since last night, about a dozen MLAs belonging to the ruling party from Andhra-Rayalaseema claimed to have resigned their seats but sources in the Legislature Secretariat did not confirm having received any such letters. 

Widespread protests were witnessed in several parts of Andhra and Rayalaseema regions with people taking to streets, organising rallies, demonstrations and burning tyres and effigies of UPA leaders as part of the bandh being observed today by different outfits. 

Normal life was disrupted as educational institutions and commercial establishments remained closed and the services of state-run Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) were suspended in Kadapa, Chittoor, Visakhapatnam and Krishna. The agitators squatted on roads to prevent the buses from plying. 

Two persons, including a home guard, reportedly committed suicide in Vizianagaram and Guntur districts protesting the move to divide the state. 

At some places like Eluru, incidents of violence were reported, with protestors attacking a private educational institution and government offices, damaging furniture and setting private vehicles on fire. 

Educational institutions remained shut across Andhra-Rayalaseema while lawyers boycotted work at many places. Tension prevailed in Anantapur district after police lobbed teargas shells on Samaikhyandhra protesters who pelted them with stones. 

Hundreds of slogan-raising protesters took to streets and pelted stones on policemen near Arts College and other parts of Anantapur town, prompting the police to fire teargas shells. 

"The situation is tense but under control. We had to fire teargas shells to disperse the protesters following stone pelting," a senior police official told PTI over phone from Anantapur town. 

The protesters also allegedly damaged statues of former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi at a few places, besides ransacking a Mandal Revenue office (MRO) in Anantapur, he said adding the agitators also attacked offices of BJP with stones and tried to lay siege to the residence of state revenue minister Raghuveera Reddy. 

The police chased away the protesters at many places in the town and some of them have also been taken into custody, he said. 

In Vijayawada, students gathered at squares and held road blockades to protest the decision to partition the state. 

President of Vijayawada Chamber of Commerce and Industry Velampalli Ramachandra Rao said that commercial establishments were closed as traders supported the shutdown. 

Government employees also supported the bandh call. 

The Bar Association of Vijayawada appealed to its members not to attend courts. 

In Visakhapatnam, 'Samaikyandhra' students' Joint Action Committee (JAC) and various other organisations held protests. Students' JAC leader Lagudu Govinda, who launched a hunger strike on the Andhra University campus last night, said his agitation would continue till the Congress high command reversed its decision. 

In East Godavari, two platoons of paramilitary forces and as many BSF battalions were deployed as a precautionary measure even as a total bandh was observed in the district, Superintendent of Police Ravikumar said. Some state-run buses were also damaged due to stone pelting following which five activists were rounded up, they said. 

Congress and TDP activists also clashed outside TDP office at Gokavaram bus stand in Rajahmundry but were dispersed later, they added. 

In Guntur town, the proponents of united Andhra, including Congress activists, organised rallies demanding revocation of the resolution adopted by the Congress Working Committee for carving out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh. 

Amid raging protests, Congress ministers and MLAs from Rayalaseema, who met this morning, demanded that the new capital be located in the Rayalaseema region. 

"Kurnool (in Rayalaseema) was capital of Andhra state, but we sacrificed it for Hyderabad in AP. The state is being divided again. Hyderabad is developed. Now, it is not clear where the capital will be established. Our proposal is that we should get the capital, because we sacrificed," Law Minister E Pratap Reddy told reporters after the meeting. 

"Unless the package for Rayalaseema is specifically told to us, we cannot accept this," he said. 

"We will accept the new state only if we get our share of assured water (from river Krishna) and the new capital," one of them said. 

Meanwhile, Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu has asked the Centre to immediately constitute a committee of experts to assess the quantum of funds required to develop a new capital city for Andhra Pradesh. 

"According to our rough estimates, a staggering Rs 4-5 lakh crore will be required to build a new capital and comprehensively create necessary infrastructure. The Centre should fund this and develop the new capital on par with Hyderabad," he said. 
""Zee NEWS"

ANTI-TELANGANA

New Delhi: India is all set to get its 29th state – Telangana, which was endorsed by UPA allies and cleared by the powerful Congress Working Committee on Tuesday evening.

While the decision has been welcomed by pro-Telangana supporters, those opposed to the move have termed it suicidal.

Wednesday is set to witness hectic activity with regard to the Telangana issue. Here are the live updates:



  • State ministers who are opposed to the creation of Telangana state have submitted resignations to the Andhra CM, say reports.

  • Reports said Andhra CM Kiran Kumar Reddy, who is from the Rayalaseema region and is a staunch supporter of the "united Andhra Pradesh" cause, told his ministers today that the decision on Telangana was "painful" for him as well. He however added that there was now a need to look at the road ahead and how to move ahead on the new states.

  • P Ramesh Babu, Congress MLA from Pendurthy Assembly constituency, resigns to protest the Congress decision to form a separate Telangana state.

  • Decision is in favour of Telangana because ultimately Hyderabad will be Telangana's capital, says Digvijay Singh. Decision is also in favour of Rayalaseema and Andhra so that both can progress and be self-reliant, he adds.

  • Until a new capital is formed for Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad will be capital of both states, says Congress' Digvijay Singh.

  • BJP and Narendra Modi should welcome the decision (on Telangana) and not question the delay, intentions behind the decision etc, says Jagdambika Pal of the Congress.

  • Effigies of Congress president Sonia Gandhi burnt during anti-Telangana protests.

  • The shutdown has hit normal life in Visakhapatnam, Vijayanagaram, Eluru, Kakinada, Vijayawada, Guntur, Nellore, Ongole, Chittoor, Tirupati, Anantapur, Kadapa, Kurnool and other towns.

  • Hundreds of vehicles are on the Vijayawada-Hyderabad and the Chennai-Bhubaneswar highways.

  • Road transport has come to a standstill while shops, business establishments and educational institutions have remained closed in the two regions.

  • Protests have begun in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions.

  • Hundreds of police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed in the two regions to maintain law and order.

  • Union Cabinet is set to meet on Wednesday to discuss Telangana - a separate state to be carved out of Andhra Pradesh. While the agenda of the special Cabinet meeting has not been disclosed, sources say it is most likely to take up and approve the creation of Telangana.

  • A day-long bandh has been called across coastal and southern Andhra Pradesh to protest the proposed creation of Telangana.

  • A 'hurt' Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha member from Guntur, said he was resigning from the party as well as his Parliamentary seat in protest.

  • Congress ministers and MPs from Andhra Pradesh are expected to meet state Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy today.

  • Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh told a press conference last evening that the creation of Telangana will take around four to five months. "The entire process should take around four to five months," he said.

  • After the Cabinet approves Telangana, the CWC resolution will be sent to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, which will have to approve it.

  • Next, the Central government would set up a group of ministers (GoM) which will go into the details of sharing the assets like water resources, boundary, finances and security related issues between Telangana and the rest of Andhra Pradesh.

  • The Law Ministry will then draft a bill for creation of Telangana state which will be sent to the Union Home Ministry.

  • The suggestions of the state Assembly will not be binding on the Home Ministry.

  • The bill, once approved by the Union Cabinet, will then be sent to President Pranab Mukherjee for his approval.

  • It will then be sent to Parliament to be passed by a simple majority in both the Houses. Once approved by Parliament, the bill will again be sent to the President for his assent.
  • Tuesday, July 30, 2013

    1969 to 2013




    movement of telangana

    There have been several movements to invalidate the merger of Telangana and Andhra, major ones occurring in 1969, 1972 and 2000s onwards. The Telangana movement gained momentum over decades becoming a widespread political demand of creating a new state from the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh.[32]
    On December 9, 2009, Government of India announced process of formation of Telangana state. Due to violent protests raised in Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions immediately after the announcement, the decision to form to new state was put on hold on December 23, 2009. The movement continued in Hyderabad and other districts of Telangana.
    The process of telangana initiated by Congress party on 30th July 2013.