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 paralyses Andhra Pradesh

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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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Telangana lawmakers quit as strike hits normalcy

Telangana MPs, MLAs resign en masse

Hyderabad, July 4: 

Resignations by 74 legislators and 10 MPs from the ruling Congress (I), the Telugu Desam Party and the erstwhile Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) in Andhra Pradesh has once again catapulted the Telangana issue onto the centre-stage.

All these people's representatives belong to the Telangana region. While the MPs submitted their resignations to the Lok Sabha Speaker, Ms Meira Kumar, in New Delhi, the legislators sent in their letters to the Deputy Speaker of the AP Assembly.

There was hectic activity at the office of the Chief Minister, Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy, the Telangana Rastra Samithi Chief, Mr K. Chandrasekhar Rao, and some of the Congress (I) leaders here on the developments and future course of action.

In New Delhi, the Home Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, stated that the Telangana issue was sensitive and needed wider consultations with political parties before a view is taken.

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Two TDP MPs resign from LS, attack Chidambaram

New Delhi: Joining the bandwagon of those resigning, two TDP MPs from Telangana region on Tuesday quit from the Lok Sabha in protest against delay in formation of a separate state and targeted Home Minister P Chidambaram for being "totally responsible" for the present situation.
Nama Nageswara Rao, the TDP Parliamentary Party leader, and Ramesh Rathod met Speaker Meira Kumar here and tendered their resignation.

TDP has six members in the Lok Sabha. Rao and Rathore hail from the Telangana region.
The move came a day after 10 Congress MPs from the region resigned, mounting pressure on the Centre and their party High Command to take an early decision on the statehood demand.
Rao said that he and Rathod apprised the Speaker of the prevailing situation in Andhra Pradesh, particularly the Telangana region and sought her intervention in resolving the crisis.
The TDP leader said the Centre should abide by its statement made on December 9, 2009 in which it announced that steps would be initiated for the formation of a separate Telangana state.
Asked about Chidambaram's remarks yesterday that two political parties were yet to give their views in the Telangana issue, Rao said "Chidambaram is totally responsible for this situation. He has confused everyone and the current situation is entirely his creation".
The Home Minister had said that consultations with political parties were not yet complete and no final decision has been taken on the issue.

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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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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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TRS chief promises to implement ‘naxal agenda'

Spread of naxalism only due to integrated State: KCR

HYDERABAD: Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao has said that his party will implement the “agenda of naxalites” in separate Telangana as “after all what they wanted was solution to economic, social and land problems which the TRS had always supported.”

Addressing a meeting at the party office here on Sunday, Mr. Rao asked why youth would be forced to join naxalism if their basic needs were met. The spread of naxalism was only on account of an integrated State and this would end on its own if a smaller State was carved out, he added.

Blames Naidu

Targeting TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu for false claims that naxalites were a hindrance to investments, Mr. Rao asked whether the operations of AP Rayons factory in the naxal hotbed of Kamalapur in Warangal district had ever come to a halt.

He blamed Mr. Naidu for carrying out propaganda out of jealousy that the India CEO Forum attended by the former recently was stage-managed. He also expressed his ire at a section of the media which had projected that he had convened the forum on his own. Clarifying that he had nothing to do with the conduct of the forum, he said newspapers which put out such stories were low in credibility.

Helplessness

Mr. Rao added that the forum was convened as a result of his meeting with senior executives of Microsoft and Infosys in the aftermath of his hunger strike in December last. The executives explained their helplessness due to failure of their staff to attend to duties on account of frequent bandhs in the city during that period of the agitation.

He shared his opinion with the executives that uncertainty will prevail till the formation of separate Telangana and things will be different after that. He had also spoken his mind to them about a scientific approach to development of Telangana. Impressed by him, they carried his views to a larger body which decided to organise the India CEO Forum to dispel apprehensions of industry about investments in Hyderabad, Mr. Rao added.

The forum was actually slated for August 26 but was postponed as he was busy with the Parliament session.

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Telangana MPs change plan with Cong celebration

The Gandhi clan is first and foremost, when it comes to the Congress, more so when some one from the family is getting re-elected to lead the party, that too for a record fourth time. For the sake of the Gandhi family, anybody and everybody in the party will make any sacrifice. And altering one’s schedule is a minor favour that the party can expect from the die-hard loyalists of the family.

The Congress MPs from Telangana who had gathered in Delhi on Friday with their supporters to press for a separate state of Telangana, had to modify their plan.
Initially they had decided to conduct a dharna, take out a rally and raise slogans favouring Telangana, but had to postpone it by a day on account of the coronation of Sonia Gandhi as the party chief for a record fourth time.
The MPs and their supporters also ended up celebrating the occasion by bursting crackers, dancing and singing outside the party headquarters in the capital on Friday.

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Telangana issue hits Group-I recruitment exam

HYDERABAD: The examination for recruitment of Group-I service officers in Andhra Pradesh scheduled for September 5 has come under a cloud with students and political leaders from Telangana demanding postponement of exam till the share of Telangana in recruitment is decided.The Students from Telangana region have said that injustice has been meted out to the region in the past and demanded at least 42 per cent reservation in recruitment.Those from non-Telangana region have opposed any such move.The examination should not be held until "the share of Telangana is decided", the students Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Osmania University and other Telangana leaders said.Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission, however, has indicated that it would go ahead with the exam as scheduled.The TRS and Telangana leaders from TDP and Congress have supported the demand for postponing the exam and put forward their demand before Chief Minister K Rosaiah.The Chief Minister should intervene in the issue immediately and see that the exam is postponed, TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao said in Warangal.Alleging that APPSC Chairman A Venkatram Reddy is corrupt and discriminated against Telangana in the recruitment process, Rao demanded that he be removed from the post forthwith.Demanding the postponement of the exam, ABVP activists held a protest outside the state Secretariat today, while another group of Telangana supporters organised a protest at the APPSC office.Meanwhile, the Joint Action Committee of students in non-Telangana regions demanded that the exam be conducted as per schedule. It also called for a shut down in universities in the regions tomorrow."The exam has already been postponed twice. The state government should not give in to the blackmailing politics of Telangana supporters," they said.Congress and TDP leaders from non-Telangana regions urged the government not to postpone the examination.State Panchayat Raj Minister B Satyanarayana, who hails from coastal Andhra, appealed to the Telangana supporters not to press for postponing the exam."The Sri Krishna committee is looking into the whole issue and will submit its report in another three months.I appeal to all not to play with the future of the students," he said.Meanwhile, the state police has made elaborate arrangements to ensure that the examination is conducted without any untoward incident.State DGP K Aravinda Rao has directed the police officials to impose prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPc and Section 30 of Police Act in the vicinity of the exam centers.They were asked to provide three-levels of security at each examination centre for proper checking, frisking and screening of candidates.The DGP said video cameras would be used to record the events at the exam centres. Mobile-patrolling would be done and supervisory officers posted to oversee the security arrangements.

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