Telangana issue disrupts Parliament proceedings

The demand for a separate Telangana state disrupted Parliament proceedings on Thursday, with the Lok Sabha failing to transact any business.

The Lok Sabha was adjourned six times before being adjourned for the day.

The Rajya Sabha failed to take up Question Hour as the House was adjourned twice over the issue till Zero Hour.

As soon as the Lok Sabha met for the day, TRS members K Chandrashekar Rao and M Vijayashanti trooped into the well of the house in support of their demand. They were supported by BJP members.

A section of Congress members too were seen in the aisle raising slogans for the formation of a separate Telangana state.

With the TRS members remaining adamant and squatting repeatedly in the well, the Lok Sabha witnessed repeated disruptions and adjournments.

The Rajya Sabha also witnessed similar scenes.

When the House met, the BJP members, including M. Venkaiah Naidu were on their feet seeking to know from the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, who was present in the House, the status of creation of a separate Telangana state.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Mohammad Hamid Ansari asked members to raise the issue during Zero Hour, but this did not satisfy BJP members who trooped into the well of the House, forcing an adjournments.

Several Telangana-related protests and shutdowns have brought Andhra Pradesh to a standstill.

The Central Government has appointed a judicial commission headed by former Supreme Court Justice Srikrishna to look into issue.

The report, submitted to Chidambaram in December last year, has suggested at least six options, including maintaining the status quo in the state or bifurcating the state.

Dave Lindahl

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 The state government had on Monday withdrawn 135 cases registered against the students in addition to nearly 600 cases withdrawn earlier.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.

Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's brother sworn in

YSR's brother among 39 Andhra ministers sworn in.

Andhra Pradesh News Updates! Late Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's brother Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy was among the 39 ministers inducted into the state cabinet on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy not only dropped three loyalists of Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, the late Y.S.Rajasekara Reddy's rebel son who is popularly known as Jagan, but also inducted a few others who were openly targeting him and demanding probe into alleged corruption during YSR's six-year rule.

Kiran has dropped five ministers who were members of the cabinets of YSR and Rosaiah, retained 28 ministers and brought 11 new faces, including Vivekananda Reddy.

Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan administered the oath of office and secrecy to the ministers at a morning ceremony at Raj Bhavan.

Vivekananda is the only minister from the legislative council and his induction was clearly aimed to counter Jagan, who resigned from the Congress and parliament Monday, accusing the leadership of trying to divide the family by luring his uncle with ministerial post.

Jagan and his mother Vijayalaxmi, who too quit the Congress and the state assembly, tried in vain to stop Vivekananda from joining the cabinet. There was a heated argument between Jagan and his uncle during their meeting Tuesday night at Kadapa.

Vivekananda, who left for Hyderabad after the meeting, made it clear that he would join the cabinet and remain in the Congress till his last breath.

Kiran dropped B. Srinivas Reddy and P. Subhash Chandra Bose, who had openly come out in support of Jagan in recent months. Shilpa Mohan Reddy was also seen as a Jagan loyalist.

Kiran also dropped P. Ramchandra Reddy, his rival in the party in his native Chittoor district. Senior leader Gade Venkat Reddy also did not find place.

Shankar Rao, a legislator from Hyderabad, and D.L. Ravinder Reddy of Kadapa district were among the new faces. The two are bitter critics of Jagan and had been demanding probe into alleged corruption during YSR's rule.

K. Jana Reddy, who was home minister in YSR's earlier cabinet (2004-09), returned to the cabinet. However, another senior leader, J.C. Diwakar Reddy, who was expected to make a comeback, was not inducted.

With 16 ministers, Telangana has been given the largest representation in the cabinet, followed by coastal Andhra (15) and Rayalaseema (8).

Mohammed Ahmedullah remains the lone Muslim minister in the cabinet.

Of the state's 23 districts, Adilabad is the only district with representation in the cabinet.

The prominent ministers who were retained include Dharmana Prasad Rao, Botsa Satyanarayana, Raghuveera Reddy, P. Lakshma Reddy, G. Aruna Kumari, S. Vijayrama Raju and J. Geeta Reddy.

The Congress retained power in April 2009 elections by bagging 156 seats in the 294-member assembly.

YSR, who took oath as the chief minister for the second consecutive term May 20 last year, died in a helicopter crash on Sep 2 the same year.

Rosaiah, who was finance minister in the YSR cabinet, succeeded him as the chief minister but retained the same cabinet. He quit last week on health grounds.

AP Chief Minister Konijeti Rosaiah resigns

Konijeti Rosaiah submits resignation to Governor.

AP News Updates! Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Konijeti Rosaiah has submitted his resignation to Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan on Wednesday afternoon.

The Chief Minister announced his decision to quit “due to advanced age” at a hurriedly convened press conference and later drove to Raj Bhavan along with some of his Cabinet colleagues including . He was closeted with the Governor for about 15 minutes when he reportedly asked Mr. Narasimhan to accept his resignation at the earliest.

Mr. Rosaiah, who appeared relaxed during the brief media interaction, said there were no political reasons behind his resignation and refused to reply when asked about his possible successor. He said his 14-month-long stint as Chief Minister was satisfactory.

He said he had no special influence or support of groups in the party for his elevation as Chief Minister. He was given the responsibility due to the good impression Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the party’s Core Committee had on him.

Recalling his stint as Finance Minister earlier, he said his activity was confined to one department. But the Chief Minister’s job entailed strenuous work of reviewing the functioning of all the departments and ensuring an effective coordination between them. “I have taken up the responsibility at an advanced age and the work pressure enhanced considerably,” he said.

He thanked the party, bureaucracy and the people for reposing faith in him and declared that he would extend all the possible cooperation to his successor.

“I will be free from tomorrow and will extend all possible help to whoever takes the responsibility,” he said.

Mr. Rosaiah tendered his resignation a few hours ahead of an emergency meeting of the Congress Legislature Party scheduled at 6.30 pm to discuss the issue of choosing his successor. AICC leaders Pranab Mukherjee, M. Veerappa Moily, Ghulam Nabi Azad and A.K. Antony are expected to attend the CLP meeting as the party High Command’s observors.

There was hectic political activity in the Congress party with MLAs discussion among themselves about the possible successor of Mr. Rosaiah.

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