Telangana deadline getting closer, where is Chandrasekhar Rao?

Hyderabad: With the deadline for Telangana getting closer and the heat is on in both regions, surprisingly TRS President K. Chandrasekhar Rao is silent and aloof. Even his family members and top TRS leaders are not very vocal while T-JAC has taken control of the show and has been very active.
But for the occasional outbursts on referendum on Hyderabad or the opposition to Seemandhra leaders meeting in the city, there has been no show, for whatever reasons.
KCR had been in Delhi for quite some time before Sushil Kumar Shinde announced the All Party Meeting.  During his stay in Delhi, it is believed that KCR had parleys with the Centre and was prepared to merge his party with Congress and go the Chiranjeevi way. But something went wrong somewhere and fell short of expectations.
Though TRS attended the meeting, KCR has been saying that it is a futile exercise.
What really happened in Delhi while KCR stay put there is crucial for the All Party meeting and the decision due this month-end.
While JAC has been taking up the issue and Congress leaders hijacking much of the credit, TRS remaining silent is very surprising. TRS may not be isolated on the issue, but all parties have been part of the ongoing process on Telangana while TRS has only talked about Hyderabad, rather reacted.
Sakalajanula Samme at its peak has been stalled, whatever be the understanding and with both regions gearing up for a showdown, the party which was born on the plank of a separate state, not being active and yielding ground to its arch rival Congress is surprising. We have to wait and see for more surprises in the days to come.

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Telangana strike enters 25th day

The general strike in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh entered its 25th day on Friday as the impasse continues over the demand for a separate state.
Government employees, teachers, workers in Singareni coal mines and Road Transport Corporation (RTC) are continuing their strike to press the central government to initiate the formation of a separate Telangana state.
With the centre seeking more time to resolve the issue, an early end to the strike is not in sight.
After a break for subdued Dussehra festivities, the protests resumed in the region Friday with striking employees taking out rallies and holding demonstrations in various districts.
Over 10,000 buses of state-owned RTC remained off the roads for the 19th day in Hyderabad and nine other Telangana districts. While the authorities are operating about 200 buses in Hyderabad with the help of private drivers, the road transport in the rest of the region remained paralysed.
RTC officials say the corporation is suffering a daily loss of Rs.7 crore.
As an overwhelming majority of about 70,000 employees in state-owned Singareni Collieries continue the strike, the coal production in 50 mines spread over four districts remains crippled.
The company is producing only 36,000 tonnes of coal against its normal daily production of 150,000 tonnes. The power crisis may deepen further as the thermal power stations run out of coal stocks.
With a daily deficit of 56 million units of power, the state authorities have already imposed four hour power cut in cities and six to 10 hours in semi-urban and rural areas. A two-day power holiday in a week is in force for industries, in addition to daily four hour peak time blackout. Farmers were also hit as they were supplied power for six hours against the normal seven hours a day.
The situation may turn worse with the Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) going ahead with the three-day rail blockade Oct 9, 10 and 11. The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) fears a major problem for its Ramagundam thermal station if the coal supplies from other sources were hit due to the blockade.
NTPC Ramagundam is generating only 1,750 MW daily against its capacity of 2,600 MW, hitting the power supply to Andhra Pradesh and other southern states.
Due to the strike in Singareni, NTPC is getting coal from sources outside the state.
The generation of power in thermal stations in the state has already come down from 109 million units to 76 million units.
Singareni officials said the strike was causing a daily loss of Rs.25 crore.
The strike by government employees has already paralysed the administration in the region. The government is losing revenues of over Rs.200 crore every day due to the strike in all key departments.
As teachers also continue the strike, schools and colleges are likely to declare extended holidays for Dussehra. The educational institutions, which remained closed for 20 days due to the strike, were scheduled to open Monday.

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Telangana: Strike paralyses Andhra Pradesh

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Telangana agitation: All trains cancelled to Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad, Sept 23: All trains to and from Hyderabad have been cancelled from Friday (Sept 23) night over the two-day rail blockade by the Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC).

Demanding a separate statehood, the protest for Telangana entered the 10th day on Friday. 55 express and 176 passenger trains over the next two days (Saturday and Sunday) have been cancelled by the South Indian Railways on Friday. The communication through rails between Hyderabad and North India will come to a standstill too.

Trains running between Hyderabad and Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Guwahati, Patna, Rajkot and Balharshah also have been cancelled due to the threat over the rail-blockade.

Railways sources also informed that while 55 trains have been diverted, four trains have been re-scheduled around the region.

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Telangana upsurge: Azad favours talks

Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is in charge of Andhra Pradesh affairs, on Friday said the dialogue with the representatives of MPs, MLAs and ministers who had resigned in support of a separate state of Telangana has not yet ended and talks will continue. “I had two rounds of

meetings with the representatives of these MLAs, MPs and ministers. I hope the discussion will continue. Dialogue has not yet over,” Azad said while responding to a query on Telangana upsurge. The Union minister flew in to Jammu from New Delhi amid heavy rains to attend the Jammu Cooperative Women Conference at Maralia, Miran Sahib, about 15 km south-west of Jammu city.
Azad had also met the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and briefed them about the evolving situation in Andhra Pradesh.
He had earlier said the Telangana issue was sensitive and complex and it required wider consultations.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar is likely to take a decision on the resignation of 13 MPs from Telangana region before the Monsoon session of Parliament that begins on August Ist. Of the 13 resignations, nine are of Congress MPs and two each of TDP and TRS.
Union home minister P Chidambaram had on July 4 said that the Centre was yet to take a final decision on the issue and that it would try to expedite the consultation process.
On the resignation of the minister for communications and IT Dayanidhi Maran in 2G Spectrum scam after telecom minister A Raja, Azad termed it unfortunate, but quickly added, “There is no difference between minister and common man before the law. Law will take its own course and those are guilty will be punished.”
Responding to a question regarding Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s “rejection” to stone throwing, the Union health minister welcomed the statement, saying “It was an endorsement to what we had been saying since long.”
“We had repeatedly saying that guns, bullets and stones would yield nothing. I want to congratulate the people of valley, especially youth who, finally, feet and believe that guns and stones were no solution to any issue as it is not in favour of the state. It weak the state economically,” he added.

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Deadlock over Telangana, protests continue

NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD: The deadlock over Telangana continued on Wednesday as Congress leaders returned from New Delhi without an assurance from the central leadership while protests rocked the region on the second day of a 48-hour shutdown.

Despite the resignation of 13 MPs and 100 legislators from the region, the central government said it was not thinking of imposing President's Rule in Andhra Pradesh.

"There is no move to impose President's Rule," Home Minister P. Chidambaram said in New Delhi.

He said the central government had also not taken any final decision on whether or not to give statehood to Telangana, saying the "consultation process is still in progress".

Telangana leaders, who held four rounds of talks with the central leadership since Tuesday, demanded that the process for formation of a separate state be initiated with a fixed time frame and made it clear that any delay would not be good for the party.

Claiming that their talks have not failed, state minister K. Jana Reddy said in New Delhi that they were optimistic the central government would initiate the process immediately by taking note of their views.

Soon after his return to Hyderabad, Congress MP from Karimnagar Ponnam Prabhakar lashed out at his own party describing it as accused number one in Telangana and blamed it for the present crisis.

Life remained paralysed across Telangana on the second day of the 48-hour shutdown called by the Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC).

Public transport remained crippled in Hyderabad and nine other districts of the region while shops, business establishments, hotels, petrol bunks as well as educational institutions were shut for a second straight day.

Coal production in Singareni Collieries was affected for the second day as a majority of nearly 100,000 employees in the mines, spread over four Telangana districts, refused to work.

The shutdown badly affected the work in government offices as a majority of about 300,000 employees in the region stayed away from work.

In courts, lawyers struck work. Even medical services in government-run hospitals were hit as doctors attended only emergency services.

However, buses of state-owned Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corp returned to the roads in the evening as the authorities resumed services between Hyderabad and other cities.

Telangana activists attacked the office of CPI-M in Bhongir town in Naglonda district demanding resignation of its sole legislator in support of a separate state.

In Hyderabad, police arrested JAC convenor M. Kodandaram and dozens of leaders of TRS, BJP, CPI-ML New Democracy, unions of government employees and student bodies.

Protestors were arrested when they tried to lay siege to the residence of Union Petroleum Minister S. Jaipal Reddy demanding his resignation.

Police said the leaders of various groups were arrested for violating prohibitory orders.

Osmania University again turned into a battle zone as students fought pitched battles with police, who fired rubber bullets, tear gas and sound bombs.

One student was injured when police fired rubber bullets. Another student was injured when a tear gas shell hit him.

A television reporter was injured in stone pelting by students.

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Tollywood’s loss put at Rs 1 Cr

HYDERABAD: The film industry stands to suffer a revenue loss of Rs one crore on account of the two-day Telangana bandh.

On the first day of the bandh on Tuesday, practically all the theatres in Telangana observed a bandh. However, Telangana Film Chamber of Commerce president M Vijayendar Reddy said the chamber had found out about screenings at Prasads Imax and Sensation cinema at Khairatabad. "We informed Sensation theatre management to stop the screenings but have not been able to get through to the Prasads' management," Vijayendar Reddy said.

While there were some exceptions like that, the bandh remained total. Some instances of theatres opening for the morning shows came to the notice of the film chamber, who immediately told the managements to observe the bandh.

Vijayendar Reddy said unlike on earlier occasions, the film chamber had not enough time to intimate theatre managements about the proposed bandh and had asked them to strictly fall in line. But this time, the decision to call for the two-day bandh was taken only on Monday evening, and no instructions were sent personally to the theatre managements by the chamber.

Film producers, however, are unhappy about the bandh being enforced. Telugu Film Producers Council (TFPC) secretary T Prasanna Kumar Reddy said while the losses were definitely huge on account of the twoday bandh, some solace was that the bandh was not on a weekend.

On Saturdays and Sundays, the theatres usually are full. This is also because new films get released on Fridays. Since the bandh has been called for Tuesday and Wednesday, though the industry will suffer losses, it is not as much as it would have been during weekends.

According to an estimate, the losses for the film industry stood estimated at least Rs one crore due to the two-day bandh.

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Bandh total in Telangana districts

HYDERABAD: The 48-hour bandh in Telangana region was total and passed off peacefully on the first day on Tuesday. While life was paralysed in Warangal, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Adilabad and Medak districts, the bandh evoked a mixed response in Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda and Khammam districts.

Commuters faced severe difficulties to reach their destinations with the APSRTC employees' JAC participating in the bandh. The buses remained confined to depots across the Telangana region. While autos ran skeleton services, private operators made a killing by collecting huge amounts from the passengers. Schools, colleges and other educational institutions declared holiday for Wednesday, banks and government offices remained closed. Hotels, cinema theatres, petrol bunks and other business establishments remained shut for major part of the day.

Hundreds of TRS workers and Kakatiya University JAC students laid a siege to Rajya Sabha member Gundu Sudharani's (TDP) residence at Ramannapet in Warangal demanding her resignation. KU students tried to attack a hotel and a petrol bunk (both are run by the MP) at Nakkalagutta in Hanamkonda. However, police came in large numbers and dispersed the mob.

Tension prevailed when a group of students and TRS activists tried to gatecrash into Jagan loyalist and Congress MLC Pulla Padmavathi's residence at Peddammagadda in Warangal. However, police intervened and removed the protesters from the area. The agitating students took out a rally of donkeys in protest against those who did not submit resignations from their posts. They raised slogans against some Congress MLAs for clinging on to their posts.

Another Jagan loyalist and MLC Konda Muralidhar Rao sent his resignation to Warangal district collector Bojja Rahul, while more Congress party ZPTC members submitted their resignations.

Meanwhile, Kakatiya University students' JAC activists presented flowers in protest to Warangal RDO Sarve Sangeetha, daughter of Congress MP Sarve Satyanarayana and pleaded her to impress upon his father to tender resignation.

There was mild tension in Karimnagar town when TRS workers pelted stones on a private supermarket store. They chanted slogans against the store run by an Andhra management. Police made elaborate arrangements to prevent any untoward incident in the district.

The Andhra Pradesh-Karnataka road linkage at Deverkadra manual in Mahbubnagar district was blocked by the agitators right from 6am. Nearly 100 bus services run daily on this route, which is lucrative for both the state road transport corporations. To see that no bus should ply on the route, the agitators rushed to the bus depots before dawn and made arrangements for mass cooking.

Traffic on the national highway was disrupted till afternoon as leaders of all-party unions formed a human chain at Jedcherla. Political JAC activists and Palamur University students attacked Alampur MLA Abraham's convoy at Musapset village in Adakal manual demanding his resignation. Police came to his rescue and dispersed the mob.

The protesting activists vent their ire at Congress MLC D Rajeshwar of Nizamabad for not tendering resignation to his post. Effigies of Rajeshwar were burned at Jukkal, Pitlam, Madnoor and other parts of Nizamabad district.

Police arrested district JAC chairman Gopal Sarma and CPI (ML) New Democracy leader V Prabhakar when they tried to attack the house of the MLC at Nyalkal road in Nizamabad town.

While employees of various departments locked the district collector's office and staged a dharna there, lawyers locked the district court complex. Teachers boycotted the SSC advanced supplementary spot evaluation. Effigies of Union petroleum minister S Jaipal Reddy and state ministers Danam Nagender and Mukesh Goud were also burned by the protesters in the district.

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OLD CITY

HYDERABAD: If the other parts of the twin cities remained shut on Tuesday, Old City, MIM stronghold, people went about their business oblivious of the bandh. That it wasn't a normal weekday was only evident from the dip in tourist footfall in this part of Hyderabad. The otherwise crowded Charminar and Lad Bazaar, which are forever bustling with tourists, remained deserted with only few locals venturing out to make some purchases. Almost all the shops on the Pathergatti-Madina stretch, also a hub for shoppers who drop by from all over the city apart from tourists, received no customers.

Officials of Archeological Survey of India, which is the custodian of Charminar, said that the number of visitors on Tuesday dwindled to less than one-fourth the normal figure. "With no public transportation, Charminar had just 1,934 visitors as against the average 6,000," said an official.

It was the same at Chowmahalla Palace, Salar Jung Museum, Nizam's Museum and Mecca Masjid, which are must see places for tourists visiting the city of Nizams. The authorities at these places, who were counting on their losses, said that they were expecting a similar situation even on Wednesday. Except petrol pumps, all the markets, eateries and other business establishments remained open here on Tuesday. "MIM dictates the rules here. Even if we want to shut the shops expecting no customers, we cannot. For, it will give an impression that we are opposing the party's decisions," said a trader in Madina. Other traders said that they were in a peculiar situation. "We are not observing the bandh but the impact is the same. These repeated bandhs are making a dent in our pockets. The whole market is suffering because of this by losing almost a crore in one day. The hawkers who make a livelihood from their daily income are the worst sufferers," said a jewellery store owner near Charminar. A large number of people who depend on public transportation to commute to distant areas had no way but to stay back home. While colleges remained shut, some local schools, which were open reported marginal attendance.

Old City traders extending up to Afzalgunj were patiently waiting for customers but stores at Osmangunj and Abids were shut.

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CAMPUS

Hyderabad, July 5: Tear gas shells and rubber bullets were fired by police inside the Osmania University campus as a 48-hour bandh called by Telangana campaigners kicked in today.

Two rebel Telugu Desam MLAs trying to enter the university were arrested on the charge of provoking the students.

City buses, local trains, schools, cinemas and even Irani teashops in the 10 Telangana districts were shut down as statehood campaigners drove around in vans to ensure the bandh was observed.

A government spokesperson said almost 2,000 buses and 45 local trains were cancelled. Buses between the coastal districts and Hyderabad stopped plying in the afternoon for fear of attacks.

Petrol pumps closed in the morning after staying open all night to service people who rushed to fill up before the bandh. This morning, petrol was selling in black at Rs 100 a litre.

The All India Bank Officers’ Association said banking transactions worth Rs 20,000 crore would be affected during the two-day bandh as most of the 5,000 odd branches of all banks in the region stay closed.

V. Anil Kumar, the association general secretary, said the daily transactions of all banks in Telangana region were around Rs 10,000 crore a day.

An attack on the Jubilee Hills home of Union minister Jaipal Reddy, the seniormost Congress MP from Telangana and one of the few who has not resigned, was thwarted by the police.

However, the houses of elected representatives of the Congress and the Desam in Warangal were attacked. An effigy of Congress MP Sarvey Satyanarayana, who had refused to resign saying ‘I cannot let down party president Sonia Gandhi who had handpicked me for Parliament’, was also burnt.

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Telangana: Congress under pressure; more MPs, MLAs quit

The central leadership of the Congress on Tuesday reached out to its MPs who had resigned over the Telangana issue, although without offering any concrete assurances, even as more MPs and MLAs of other parties quit their seats to force the Centre to give in to the demand for a separate state.
Congress general secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad held discussions with party MPs who had resigned on Monday. While the MPs sought to impress on Azad the “seriousness of the situation in Telangana” that had forced them to quit, there was no assurance forthcoming from the Congress general secretary. Azad also met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi later in the day to apprise them of the situation.
Emerging from the meeting with Azad, Nizamabad MP Madhu Goud Yaskhi said while the Centre could hold whatever further consultations it wanted, the process of formation of the separate state has to be initiated in right earnest immediately. These Congress MPs from Telangana were scheduled to meet Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Sonia Gandhi, late on Tuesday night. 

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Telangana crisis: 48 hrs bandh to be start

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India Digest: Telangana will Turn into a Furnace, Warns KCR

By WSJ Staff

Here is a roundup of news from Indian newspapers, news wires and Web sites on Tuesday, July 5, 2011. The Wall Street Journal has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Telangana will Turn into a Furnace, Warns KCR: Telangana Rashtra Samithi President K Chandrasekhar Rao has warned of intensifying the agitation from Tuesday in support of Telangana if the Centre continued to dilly-dally on the issue and demanded that immediate steps be taken for the formation of the separate state. (Source: NDTV)
After Controversial Remarks, Manmohan Singh will Visit Bangladesh: Prime Minister  Manmohan Singh will visit Bangladesh on September 6 and 7. The announcement comes days after the Prime Minister’s controversial remark that a quarter of all Bangladeshis were influenced by the Jamaat and close to the ISI. (Source: NDTV)
Azad’s ‘Unnatural’ Remark about Gays Causes Uproar: For the Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, men having sex with men (MSMs) is not only “unnatural” but also a “disease.” (Source: Times of India)
Tea in Tihar: 3 Officials Suspended: After holding an inquiry, Tihar Jail officials have confirmed that several inmates were flouting jail regulations like moving around freely inside jail premises and having tea with the jail officials. (Source: Times of India)
Under Pressure, SM Krishna Pays for ‘Tennis’ Tour: The External Affairs Minister SM Krishna on Friday (July 1) watched the Jokovic-Tsonga semifinal at Wimbledon, while he was in London on a five-day official visit. (Source: IBN Live)

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Cabinet meets over Telangana crisis

New Delhi: With crisis brewing over demand for a separate Telangana, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) on Monday held a crucial meeting even as parliamentarians and legislators, including from the ruling Congress and opposition parties, from the region in Andhra Pradesh, quit their posts.
The meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was held at his 7, Race Course Road official residence, government sources said.
The confabulation of the senior government functionaries comes shortly after 10 Congress members of parliament and 40 Congress legislators, including 11 ministers, 33 TDP and two Praja Rajyam Party legislators from the Telangana region resigned to bring pressure on the central government to announce statehood.
The problems were compounded for the UPA government at the centre with the Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC), which is spearheading the movement for a separate state, calling for a two-day shutdown in the region beginning Tuesday.
The JAC, comprising the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other political and non-political outfits, also called for a rail blockade July 8 and 9.

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Telangana Congress, TDP leaders decide to resign

A day after their deadline to the Congress to take a decision on Telangana expired on June 30, Congress Ministers, MPS and MLAs from the region on Friday announced they would resign en masse on July 4 to put pressure on the party leadership.

Soon after, Telugu Desam Party MLAs from the region too said they would put in their papers after holding a meeting on June 3.

Led by Panchayat Raj Minister K. Jana Reddy, Congress leaders from Telangana met at the Exhibition Grounds here to discuss their future course of action.

Mr. Jana Reddy told journalists that resignations were the only way out in the absence of any forward movement on the creation of a Telangana State. He, however, made it clear that all of them would remain in the party.

Their decision comes two days after Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao made a surprise call on Mr. Jana Reddy and impressed upon him the need for Congress leaders to mount pressure on the party high command by resigning from their posts. He was reported to have promised his party's help in getting them re-elected.

Of the 51 Congress MLAs from the Telangana region, 26, including nine Ministers, besides seven MPs and eight MLCs, attended Friday's meeting. In the 294-member Andhra Pradesh Assembly, Telangana accounts for 117 seats, of which 35 seats are held by the Telugu Desam Party and 11 by the TRS.

AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was in Hyderabad, appeared unfazed by the resignation threat. He said a decision could not be taken in haste as it would have an impact on the entire country, and not just on Andhra Pradesh. The process of consultations to arrive at a consensus was in progress and a decision would be taken at the right time.

The resignation threat is being made for the second time in two years. There were a spate of resignations by MLAs and Ministers after the Centre announced on December 9, 2009 its intention to create a Telangana State. Almost all the resignations were rejected.

The Telangana leaders have resorted to this extreme course of action as they believe that the issue has reached a decisive phase. This follows strong indications from New Delhi that the Congress will end the impasse in the next 40-50 days.

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Telangana stir revival nears, more forces sought

HYDERABAD:� With Telangana parties and organisations planning to revive the statehood agitation next month, the state police have requisitioned additional Central Paramilitary Forces (CPMF) as a precautionary measure. Already 17 companies of CPMF have been deployed in the state since the regional agitation began in 2009.

Though police termed the request for CPMF as a precautionary measure, sources said the deployment would be necessitated in view of the possibility of the situation turning volatile after June 10, the deadline set by Telanagna protogonists for the Centre to make an announcement on Telangana. Congress MPs from the region have been stating that they will join the movement directly if the Centre does not announce its decision by� then.

Director-general of police K Aravinda Rao told Express that a request for 20 more companies of CPMF was made to the Centre. “The request for more forces, however, is just a precautionary measure,'' he said. The additional forces from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) are likely to reach the city at the earliest.� Aravinda Rao said the bulk of the forces would be deployed in the Telangana region. This time, however, the Border Security Force (BSF) will not be deployed. �

Sources said the forces would be deployed across the 10 districts of Telangana and particularly where large-scale violence and arson were witnessed in the past two years. Apart from the Osmania University in the city, incidents of violence rocked Warangal, Medak and Karimnagar districts. Police sources said Kakatiya University is another hot- bed of separatist movement and they apprehend trouble in Warangal district.

Apart from these districts in Telangana region, the police are anticipating trouble in the Seemandhra districts of Anantapur and Visakhapatnam where the student JACs are strong and spearheading the Samaikyandhra movement.

The incidents of violence in Karimnagar and Warangal during the TDP's Ranabheri are also giving the police a hint of the possible deterioration of law and order in the coming days. Intelligence agencies have warned the police of possible attacks on people's representatives from the region by Telangana protagonists demanding their resignations.

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Million March: Pro-Telangana leaders taken into custody

Pro-Telangana leaders from the Telugu Desam Party, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and the Bharatiya Janata Party were taken into custody by the police on Thursday as they proceeded to take part in the “Million March to Hyderabad” protest.

Police have denied permission to the march, slated to take place from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The TRS MLAs were taken into custody soon after they started marching toward the Tank Bund at Hussain Sagar lake in Hyderabad, the venue of the protest.

“This government cannot suppress the Telangana agitation by arrests. The people are only expressing their democratic wish,” TRS MLA T. Harish Rao told reporters when he and his colleagues were being taken into custody.

TDP MLAs E. Dayakar Rao, senior BJP leader Ch. Vidyasagara Rao and others were taken into custody near Basheerbagh.

The Telangana political Joint Action Committee (JAC) Convener M. Kodandaram was detained as he was coming out of the JAC office.

“Police have been behaving in a very undemocratic way. They have arrested hundreds of people in entire Telangana,” Mr. Kodandaram told PTI.

Even policemen in plain-clothes were arresting people, and the vehicles of the MLAs were being checked, he claimed.

TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao demanded the immediate release of Mr. Kodandaram, the MLAs and other Telangana supporters.

Scores of Telangana supporters still reached the Tank Bund and shouted slogans in support of a separate Telangana and against the Congress government.

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special on telengana

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Repeated adjournments in Parliament on Telangana issue

Parliament today witnessed repeated adjournments following uproar over demands for separate Telangana, an issue which saw members from TRS, BJP and Congress coming together despite their divergent political leanings.

Both Houses of Parliament were rocked by the demand as soon as they met for the day.

In the Lok Sabha, TRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao and his colleague M Vijayashanti rushed to the Well, chanting ‘Jai Telangana’ and ‘We want Telangana’. They were supported by BJP members.

A section of Congress members from Andhra Pradesh too were seen in the aisle raising slogans for a separate Telangana, while TDP members were seen waving placards favouring ‘United Andhra Pradesh’.

A Congress member went across to the TDP members and snatched the placard and joined his protesting colleagues.

Speaker Meira Kumar repeatedly pleaded with the agitated members to allow the Question Hour to continue, but when they did not relent, she adjourned the House till noon.

Same scenes were repeated when the House re-assembled.

The Speaker requested the members to let the House function and allow taking up debate on the Railway Budget but the pleas went unheeded.

Amidst the din, Shahnawaz Hussain (BJP) raised the issue of the Supreme Court verdict on CVC and said the matter should be taken up in the House considering its serious nature. He was supported by his party members.

In view of the uproar, the Speaker adjourned the House for 30 minutes.

When the House met again at 12.30 PM, TRS members and some from Congress were again on their feet. Mr. Rao and Ms. Vijayshanti were again in the Well.

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Tight security arrangements put in place for Telangana bandh

In Andhra Pradesh, tight security arrangements have been made across Telangana region in view of the 48-hour total Bandh call given by the Telangana Joint Action Committee from Tuesday. Additional Security forces have been deployed at all important places in the state capital Hyderabad and other places in the region to avoid any untoward incident.

Meanwhile, police have advised people not to travel on Tuesday unless in emergency as public transport services are likely to be affected due to the proposed Bandh. Prohibitory orders have been imposed near the Assembly and Secretariat in Hyderabad for one week. Several associations of employees, trade unions, workers and teachers have announced their participation in the proposed Bandh.

Meanwhile, one student was injured when police resorted to mild lathicharge on Monday following stone pelting by students. Tension prevailed near Osmania University campus in Hyderabad following mild lathicharge on students when they were trying to take out a rally - Chalo Assembly.

Responding to a call given by the Osmania University Student’s Joint Action Committee, a large number of students in three batches tried to reach Assembly. They were demanding introduction of a bill for carving out Telangana State in the present Budget session of Parliament.

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