Kavitha Shunted Out Reddy Leader

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's daughter and MP K Kavitha shunted out a senior TRS leader and MLC Bhupathi Reddy from the party. She requested her father KCR to accept the resolution adopted at a meeting conducted by her with Nizamabad district party leaders.

Kavitha and other leaders already lodged a complaint with KCR that Reddy indulged in anti party activities and damaging the TRS in the district.

The meeting attended by Agriculture Minister P Srinivas Reddy and other people representatives decided to mount pressure on KCR on the removal of Reddy leader from the party.

In fact, Reddy was strong follower of KCR ever since the TRS party launched in 2001. KCR is  likely to take action in one or two days.

Another Osmania student commits suicide for Telangana

Desperate over the delay in formation of a Telangana state, another student of the Osmania University committed suicide on Tuesday.

Sai Kumar, a second year B. Tech student, ended his life by hanging in his hostel room in the campus. A suicide note purported to have been written by him said he was taking the extreme step as he was upset over the delay.

Police said some hostel inmates saw Sai Kumar hanging from the ceiling fan. Kumar, who hailed from Nalgonda district, was taken to a hospital where he was declared dead.

The incident triggered fresh tension in the university, the nerve centre of the Telangana agitation. Students gathered in large numbers and raised slogans of 'Jai Telangana'.

In view of the tense situation, the university authorities have postponed the exams scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

This is the latest in a series of suicides by Telangana students in support of the demand for separate statehood to the backward region, which comprises Hyderabad and nine other districts.

A student of Class 12 had immolated himself Feb 20 at the main entrance of Osmania University to protest the delay in formation of Telangana state. He resorted to the extreme step in full public view during a protest by university students.

A MCA student self-immolated on Osmania University campus and his body was found on the campus Jan 19.

Parties fighting for separate Telangana state claim that more than 300 students and youth have committed suicide in the region since protests began in November. There is no independent confirmation of this number.

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Cong MPs accuse police of molesting OU girls

After accusations of uncalled-for brutality during the protests in Osmania University, the Congress MPs from the Telangana region have now levelled shocking allegation of molestation against the Andhra police.

The MPs, who gathered at the Andhra Bhawan, alleged that the policemen entered the university girls’ hostel and molested some of them in the dark.


The battle between the pro-Telangana fraction and United Andhra Pradesh supporters took a different turn as the former turned its guns against police ever since the Osmania University protests were subdued with force earlier this week.

“Some 2,000 police personnel entered the University campus in Hyderabad on Monday and lathicharged the students who were protesting peacefully. The police dragged the students and beat them up. They even entered girls’ hostel and switched off the lights and molested some of them,” Nizamabad MP Madhu Goud Yaskhi and Pedapalli MP G Vivekanand told reporters on Thursday, Feb 18.

They have even sent a letter to the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi to look into the matter and take action against the guilty.

Over the past week, Osmania University has turned into a battlefield as pro-Telangana students held protests against the Terms of Referance given to the Telangana Committee from the Centre.

During on such protests, the police and other security personnel were forced to resort to means such as lobbing tear gas shells and lathi charge to control the agitations.

This later lead to protests against the kind of police action taken to control the students.

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TRS alleges betrayal, slams Telangana committee

The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) has rejected the terms of reference announced by the Central Government on Friday for the five member Justice B.N. Srikrishna committee looking into the issue of statehood for Telangana.

TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao, whose 11-day fast in December had forced the Central Government to announce that the process for formation of Telangana state would be initiated, said the terms of reference were unacceptable to people of Telangana.

"The centre has once again betrayed the people of Telangana. The terms of reference are not acceptable to us. We will continue the agitation and insist on acceptance of our resignations," the MP from Mahabubnagar told reporters.

The all-party Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Telangana will hold an emergency meeting on Friday evening to chalk outs its course of action.

The JAC, hoping that the terms of reference would be to lay a roadmap for carving out Telangana state with a clear time-frame, said New Delhi's announcement had disappointed the leaders.

"How can the Centre equate the demand for Telangana state with the demand for unified Andhra?" asked JAC convenor M Kodandaram.

The terms of reference include examining the demands of a separate state of Telangana as well as the demands for maintaining the present status of a united Andhra Pradesh.

A statement by the Home Ministry said that the committee would submit its report by December 31.

"Having a time-frame is no reason for accepting the terms of reference," said Kodandaram.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Bandaru Dattatreya said the central government had once again put the Telangana issue in cold storage.

The Osmania University students JAC has also rejected the terms of reference. The student leaders said separate state could be achieved only through a struggle.

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JAC meet ends in utter chaos

The public meeting organised by the Kakatiya University students JAC came to an abrupt and chaotic end here with slogan-shouting students and Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS) activists almost coming to blows.

An hour after the meeting began, popular folk singer Desapati Srinivas enthused the students by his renditions and eloquent speech. However, due to paucity of time, he had to cut short his speech to make way for MRPS leader Manda Krishna Madiga. But the large crowd comprising students insisted on Mr. Srinivas continuing his speech.

As soon as Mr. Krishna began his speech, scores of students below the dais hurled water sachets and empty water bottles in an attempt to stop him from speaking. Enraged by this, MRPS members tried to manhandle the other students. Mr. Srinivas too was beaten up.

The policemen who remained silent onlookers were forced to enter the scene. They surrounded the dais and some went up and vacated the place.
Accusations

Meanwhile, the tiff continued between the MRPS and other students accusing each other of trying to gain an upper hand. The police were compelled to use mild force to disperse the crowds from the venue thus bringing the meeting to an end. Social activist Swami Agnivesh, balladeer Vimala and women rights activist Sandhya and others had to leave.

The meeting itself began with lots of problems due to increased restrictions from the police in the wake of High Court’s order.

Earlier, the speakers, including TRS ideologue K Jayashankar, academics T Papi Reddy, K. Venkatanarayana, A. Sitaram Naik and some student leaders wanted the students to continue their struggle till separate Telangana was achieved. They listed the injustices done to the Telangana region for long.

They wanted the students not to allow political leaders into their movement. The students were asked not to lose heart and commit suicide in a fit of emotion. Instead, the students should patiently carry on their agitation.

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Students, police clash in OU

Police and students fought pitched battles at the Osmania University on Wednesday as violence erupted during the funeral procession of K. Venugopal Reddy, a student who committed suicide on Tuesday pained at the delay in the formation of Telangana.

A mob at OU set fire to two police vehicles, damaged a third one and pelted stones at the police personnel. Cops then lathicharged the mob and and fired over 30 tear gas shells to disperse them. Over 40 people, including 15 cops were injured in the violence.

Following the clashes, the Telangana Joint Action Committee decided to extend the bandh to Thursday to protest against the lathicharge on students. The APSRTC, which resumed its services on Wednesday, is likely to cancel its services on Thursday in view of bandh.

However, Krishank, the OU JAC member, said RTC was being exempted from the bandh because of Samakka Jatara that will be held on Thursday at Warangal. “We are also exempting petrol bunks from the bandh,” he said.

Earlier in the day, thousands of Telangana activists gathered at the Arts College building where Venugopal’s body was kept. Police in riot gear was deployed in large numbers in the campus.

Trouble erupted near the Ladies Hostel around 11 am, after police prevented students from taking out a procession with the body from the NCC Gate. The situation spiralled out of control and students and police clashed with each other for over an hour.

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Telangana meet ends without any decision

The all-party meeting on Telangana convened by Centre in New Delhi on Tuesday, Jan 5, ended inconclusively after parties failed to take any decision on the issue

Buzz up!
After the meeting, Chidambaram said, "Government of India will act on the sense of the Telangana meeting within a reasonable timeframe."


"It was clear at the meeting that political parties were divided on the issue. We will take these views to the Prime Minister and senior members of the Government and then we will formulate the further course of action," he added.

"We have expressed our views at the meeting and they have been noted by the Central government," said a joint statement, signed by leaders, issued at the end of the meeting.

"Meanwhile, it is our earnest appeal that peace, harmony and law and order should be maintained in the state," the joint statement said.

"No decision was taken at the meeting. We are waiting for the final response," TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao told reporters.

Praja Rajyam chief Chiranjeevi said he had made clear his party's stand that it stood for a united Andhra Pradesh.

"It is only the beginning of the process," he said without elaborating.

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I wanted to prove a point Lagadapati : The Secret of fastings

Congress Member of Parliament Lagadapati Rajagopal got discharged from NIMS here on Tuesday afternoon and said he had decided to get himself admitted to the hospital 24 hours ago as a challenge to the government after giving the police the slip at Vijayawada.

He told a crowded press conference immediately after leaving the hospital that he gained access to NIMS to prove a point to the government that it could not stop anyone, more so an MP like him, from travelling across the State’s regions.

He did so after Chief Minister K. Rosaiah’s refusal to shift him to NIMS even after the Superintendent of the Government Hospital at Vijayawada expressed helplessness to provide him medical aid when his sodium and potassium levels dropped due to fasting on Sunday evening. When he was put on saline in that condition, he considered his fast to have been broken.


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Dodging the police since then, Mr. Rajagopal said he took 15 hours to travel from Vijayawada to Hyderabad with another objective to expose the IV fluid-driven fast of TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

Mr. Rao was on fast in the true sense of the term for only one-and-a-half days and spent the rest of the five days in hospital with the aid of intravenous fluids.

The MP recalled that he had in vain requested the Chief Minister to allow him to take up a fast for 48 hours as the one by Mr. Rao at NIMS.

He wanted to show to the outside world how leaders could blackmail governments with ‘modern day’ fasts which were a sham.

Taking exception to the Centres’ announcement to initiate the process of formation of Telangana in the wake of the TRS chief’s fast, Mr. Rajagopal appealed to governments not to frame policies under pressure from leaders.

He said he expected the Centre to spell out a fresh proposal acceptable to people of all the regions or else he would launch another fast, this time at Visakhapatnam.

He would not support the Centre’s stand if it went against united State asit would not reflect the desire of people in all the 23 districts.

'5,000 for climbing cell-tower, 50,000 for rasta roko'

Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhara Rao, who is still recovering from weakness, is back to his old game of losing the tongue.

Addressing the first press conference after giving up the fast on Thursday, KCR told the media that some vested interests who had acquired lands and assets in Hyderabad through illegal means were behind the ongoing anti-Telangana protests in Andhra. “They are spending lakhs of rupees to fuel the flames of anti-Telangana agitations. They are paying Rs 5,000 per head to climb the cell towers, Rs 25,000 for damaging the buses and Rs 50,000 for staging rasta rooks. I have evidences for all of them,” he said.

He claimed that he was getting calls from Sakshi channel reporters that they were forced to report on the agitations in Andhra and Rayalaseema. “They told me that they would resign rather than highlighting such silly and sponsored agitations,” he said.


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Rosaiah clued out, asks for ideas

The Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, confessed on Thursday that he was clueless on how to resolve the crisis caused by agitations for and against Telangana in the state.
He also observed that there was unanimity among people of Andhra and Rayalaseema on the need for an integrated state.

“Agitations in coastal and Rayalaseema were spontaneous and was not sponsored by political parties,” said Mr Rosaiah. “The agitation for integrated state is intensifying.” Talking to reporters here, the Chief Minister said he was making a sincere appeal to media, politicians, officials and others to give suggestions on how to solve the current impasse. “People having ideas can meet me in private and discuss,” he said.

Mr Rosaiah said that the present political situation was unique since the political parties including the regional parties were split on the lines of Telangana and united Andhra.

The agitations in the recent weeks had also hit the development of the state, he said. “Poor people are being denied bread and butter as the government could not execute works under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme,” he said. “The government is not getting tax revenues as there is no business activity and this will have a cascading effect on welfare schemes.”

The Chief Minister said that students were denied education because of the closure of institutions and prices of essential commodities and vegetables had gone up as the transport sector came to a standstill.

Though Telangana calmed down following the statement by the Union home minister, Mr P Chidambaram, violence erupted in the two other regions, he said. When asked when he would go to the national capital to discuss the issue with the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and the UPA chairperson, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, the Chief Minister quipped: “It is very cold in Delhi.”


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‘I am Home Minister for entire State’

P. Sabitha Indra Reddy has objected to the charge levelled against her by Telugu Desam legislators that she was acting as Home Minister of Telangana region and trying to suppress the students’ agitation in universities in Andhra and Rayalaseema regions.

She said she was Home Minister for the entire State and not merely for Telangana and, as such, none must misinterpret the steps taken by her as they were aimed at overall maintenance of law and order in the entire State. The TDP had alleged that she was soft in dealing with the students of Osmania University, but acting differently in respect of students in Andhra and Rayalaseema regions.

Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday after Chief Minister K. Rosaiah reviewed the situation at a meeting attended by Director General of Police R.R. Girish Kumar and others, Ms. Sabitha denied having given a different treatment to students of non-Telangana regions.


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She said the police would not intervene as long as students organised agitations peacefully without damaging properties, public and private. She asked the police to exercise utmost restraint while dealing with agitators, especially students. At the same time, she appealed to students to be patient till a decision was taken by the Centre and extend cooperation for maintenance of law and order. She indicated that IG of Police Charu Sinha would remain in Anantapur.

Meanwhile, IG of Police A.R. Anuradha, who is the police spokesperson, said protests, dharnas and relay fasts were “all peaceful” on Wednesday except for some stray incidents. There were rail rokos at Vijayawada, Tadepalligudem, Vinukonda, Pullampet, Kondapuram, Nandalur and Kalamala and road blockades at 49 other places.

She said the situation, by and large, was peaceful. Agitators damaged the Doordarshan reception centre at Nandyal, a mandal resource centre at Rajampet and the office of the Praja Rajyam at Kamareddy.
27 persons held

She said Ms Nannapaneni Rajakumari and Kalava Srinivas, both Telugu Desam leaders, were among the 27 persons arrested on Wednesday in the State.

Cops lost temper, admits IG

Eight students and nine policemen were injured when both groups began pelting stones at each other in the Sri Krishnadevaraya University in Anantapur on Tuesday.
The inspector-general of police, Ms A.R. Anuradha, admitted that the “police personnel at Anantapur lost their temper and their action of hurling back the stones at the students was unjustified.”
Explaining the sequence of events, Ms Anuradha said some students of the SK University went to Akuthotapally village, about three kilometres from the campus, to make an issue over the death of a person.
“One Rajendra Prasad of the village had died a natural death. His death has no connection with the agitation. But students made an attempt to bring the body into the university and to link the death to the agitation and create tensions.
The local police thwarted their attempt by arresting one Mr Balaswamy and three others. Following their arrest, a large number of students staged a road blockade and resorted to violence,” Ms Anuradha said.
The police resorted to heavy caning. The students pelted stones on the police who then reciprocated.
Ms Anuradha said that the mood of the students had been very violent for the past three or four days as was obvious from the TV visuals.
“If they had come into Anantapur town with the body, it would have created more problems. So there was no option but for the police to control the violence,” she said.
But she admitted that “the police should also maintain restraint.” Replying to a query she said no case has been registered against the policemen who hurled the stones.
In 251 places in Andhra and Rayalseema, the United Andhra agitators are continuing a relay fast, but so far they are not creating a law and order problem, Ms Anuradha said.
In several other parts of the state, agitators organised “rail rokos.” They stopped the Sabari Express at Yerrguntla, Chitoor, and resorted to road blockades at 98 places.
A room of the Bar Association was partly set on fire in the Kadapa district sessions court. Agitators also damaged the Coastal Bank in Bhimavaram, the agricultural office in Vemula, and buses in Vijayawada and Sattenpalli in Guntur district.
Meanwhile, the prisoners in the Nandayal sub-jail in Kurnool too have joined the United Andhra agitation by going on a hunger strike on Tuesday.
“The situation is still volatile in Anantapur. We hope it will soon be back to normal,” Ms Anuradha said.
When asked about the Kadapa MP, Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, joining the chorus for United Andhra she said, “We don’t see any aggravation of the agitation with Mr Jagan’s entry.”

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Jagan cosies up to Desam

The Kadapa MP, Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, on Tuesday broke his silence on the ongoing Telangana turmoil and stunned his party colleagues by demonstrating for a united state with MPs of arch-rival Telugu Desam in the Lok Sabha.

He not only joined the TD MPs in the well of the House, but also shook hands with them, and even borrowed a placard from one of them and waved it.

Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of late YSR, had been maintaining a stoic silence on the Telangana issue, though the issue had divided his party MLAs and MPs on regional lines. With the Centre making it clear that it was going for a separate Telangana, Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy sensed that holding the placard of ‘Samaikhya Andhra Pradesh’, in Parliament may secure his political prospects.

The industrialist-politician had relapsed into silence after his attempt to get the coveted post of Chief Minister did not evoke a positive response from the AICC leadership which decided to go on with Mr K. Rosaiah. He made up for the lost time during zero hour on Tuesday after the TD MP, Mr K. Narayana Rao, spoke in favour of united AP. The four TD MPs then rushed to the well of the house holding placards supporting a unified state. The Kadapa MP also rushed to the well and joined them, and did not heed the plea of parliamentary affairs minister, Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, to go back to his seat.

Sources said the 37-year old Congress MP wanted to hog the limelight by raising the united state slogan, especially in the backdrop of resignations and fast-unto deaths by other Congress leaders in the state.

The House was adjourned and when it was reconvened 15 minutes later Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy was absent.

Angry Telangana Congress MPs met senior party leader and Defence Minister, Mr A.K. Antony, demanding disciplinary action against Mr Jagan for joining a TD protest in the Lok Sabha.

Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy spoke to media later and echoed his father¹s stand supporting a “unified Andhra” and “golden Telangana”.

He explained his behaviour by saying that he could not allow TD MPs to take the credit for “supporting a unified Andhra”.

Meanwhile, the state Cabinet met in Hyderabad on Tuesday and decided to present a united face to ensure that the development of the state is not hampered.

“We are all united and will continue to work for development and welfare of the state,” said the information minister, Dr J. Geetha Reddy, after the meeting.

Sources said the Chief Minister suggested that it was high time that the Cabinet put up a united face and expressed anguish at the way even MPs were split on regional lines.

Meanwhile, the TD chief, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, gave the green signal to his party MLAs hailing from Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions to start a bus tour from December 18. This was disclosed by the party’s Uravakonda MLA, Mr Payyavula Kesav, to newsmen.

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Congress puts Telangana on backburner

Congress on Friday pressed the damage-control button, with the party deciding to put the move to create the state of Telangana in "cold storage" to tamp down inflamed passions.

While not ready to reverse its decision to divide Andhra Pradesh, Congress leadership has decided to put the issue on pause mode, using the rift in the state assembly as the alibi.

AICC troubleshooters for the second day running were busy assuaging agitated MPs from Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra who have come out against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh by promising "inaction" on the "statehood-at-midnight" declaration of Union home minister P Chidambaram.

The decision to consign the divisive matter to the deep freezer was spelt out lucidly by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in a meeting he had with 21 Congress MPs representing regions in Andhra Pradesh that are opposed to bifurcation. Mukherjee used the simple "no assembly resolution-no Telangana" logic to pacify his restive audience.

"Any forward movement on the issue is contingent upon a pro-Telangana resolution to be adopted by Andhra Pradesh assembly by consensus. Since there is no consensus among political parties, as brought out by a spate of resignations and backtracking by parties like TDP which had come around to support the separate state, there is going to be no resolution immediately. Therefore, boundaries of Andhra Pradesh will not be redrawn and there will be status quo," a
Congress MP quoted Mukherjee as saying.

"It is so simple. Why are you people resigning," asked Mukherjee as he sought to impress upon the MPs opposed to Telangana that Chidambaram's announcement on Wednesday night was not radically different from what Congress said in its manifesto for the 2009 polls.

According to sources, home minister P Chidambram, who was present, also laid stress on "process" and "resolution" parts of his statement, suggesting that he made no promise of early or imminent action.

According to protesting Congress MPs from coastal and Rayalaseema regions of AP, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had strongly pitched for an early decision at the meeting of Congress core group on Wednesday evening, also tried to calm MPs by stressing the importance of consensus. Singh had met coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema MPs separately.

Mukherjee also explained that their hands were forced by the deteriorating health of fasting TRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao and the assessment that he might have died.

"You may not agree with the assessment. You may feel that his condition was not that serious. But we felt that Rao was going to die and we feared that it would have led to a calamity," the finance minister said.

He read out the minutes of the all-party meeting in Hyderabad which gave a go-ahead for separate state, but said that since some of the parties had gone back on their commitment, the issue was back to square one.

The interaction with the finance minister followed a meeting of protesting MPs with party chief Sonia Gandhi on Thursday night and a session Sonia had with her political secretary Ahmed Patel and AICC incharge Veerappa Moily.

The flurry of meetings were a desperate bid by Congress MPs to preempt the damage the bifurcation would cause to the interests of their constituents. The MPs informed the party brass about the "grim situation" prevailing in their constituencies.

However, the pressure tactics are not new to the state which has witnessed bloodshed and agitations over the issue, and it continues give hope to TRS and statehood champions even now.

Sources said Congress leadership had factored in the possible "reactions" of elected representatives from non-Telangana regions, given the history of the issue. In fact, indications are that it has not given up the idea of separate Telangana.

Telangana observers said Congress had in the past approached the demand by considering reactions of opponents and probing the rationale of separate state with activists. But post-YSR, the style has been to announce Telangana and then firefight the opposition. That it has happened at the start of the new assembly gives Congress a comfortable buffer to deal with the risky problem without the fear of political costs.

The sense among leaders is that Congress would go slow on the "process" but cannot go back on it. It is felt that there is a ring of inevitability to what has been declared. Reversing the clock would entail political consequences besides the enormous law and order situation it can trigger, especially when the administration is still grappling with the vacuum left by YSR.

The leadership's bid to rope in YSR's son Jaganmohan Reddy to bring around MLAs and MPs and discourage agitations shows that it feels the "backlash" to some extent is orchestrated. Most Congress MPs and MLAs are YSR loyalists and their resignations are seen to help the party by deterring TDP from becoming the spokesperson of the rest of Andhra Pradesh. While Telangana has been won over by the announcement, the sense of outrage among MPs and MLAs of other regions is important to keep them strong with their constituents who are largely for a united state.

There is a balancing act going on, though. Sources said Congress leaders from Telangana have been asked to lie low on the celebrations lest it incite the opponents.

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