Telangana MPs call off strike

Andhra govt to drop Telangana-related cases.

Andhra Pradesh government is likely to drop all cases filed against the students involved in the Telangana agitation.

The Kiran Kumar Reddy government is planning to withdraw all cases filed against protestors during Telangana agitation following pressure from it own MPs and MLAs on the issue.

Andhra Home Minister P Sabita Indira Reddy said that the state government had in principal agreed to withdraw all cases against the students. The state government had on Monday withdrawn 135 cases registered against the students in addition to nearly 600 cases withdrawn earlier.

Eleven Congress MPs from Telangana region are on fast for the second day on Tuesday demanding the withdrawal of police cases against students involved in the agitation.

The fasting MPs said that they would break their fast and call off their protest following the state government's assurance on withdrawing all cases.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrashekhar Rao visited the fasting congress MPs on Tuesday in Hyderabad to express his support.

"We are all brothers and you have seen today, across party lines people are coming together to demand Telangana. In future also we be will working together. We are again demanding the cases to be withdrawn. Our common goal is Telangana. It's up to TDP (Telugu Desam Party) if they want to come together," said Rao after meeting Congress MPs on fast.

Senior Andhra Congress leader Keshav Rao said that his party never opposed a separate Telangana state

"Congress was never opposed to a separate state. So we always had a common goal. This is not a political posturing. We are looking at a common Telangana soon," said the Congress leader.

In all, 1667 cases were registered against more than 8,400 persons in connection with the statehood agitation in all the three regions of the state between December 2009 and September 2010.

The Justice Srikrishna Committee report on the formation of a separate state of Telangana is expected on December 31 and given the timing of the fast by Congress MPs and MLAs, observers are calling it a strategy by the ruling party to gain ground in the competitive politics of Telangana issue.