Telangana LIVE: Bandh in Seemandhara; AP CM convenes meet

Hyderabad: The emotive state bifurcation issue has once again flared up in Andhra Pradesh after the union cabinet set up a Group of Ministers (GoM) to work out the modalities for creation of Telangana, India’s 29th state.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram will head the GoM. Hyderabad will be the joint capital of Telangana and Seemandhara for 10 years and after that Seemandhara will have to establish its own capital.

The cabinet decided to go ahead with the Telangana despite the stiff opposition from leaders from the Seemandhara region. Tourism Minister Chiranjeevi has already resigned from the government while another heavyweight, HRD Minister MM Pallam Raju, offered to quit but was asked to continue by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Textiles Minister KS Rao had also offered to quit, reports said. Also, Congress' V Aruna Kumar, MP from Rajahmundry, tendered his resignation both from the party and Parliament in protest over the decision. 

The Jaganmohan Reddy-led YSR Congress party has called for a 72-hour bandh in protest against the cabinet’s decision. 

The bandh is expected to be near total in the entire Seemandhara region and would be felt in cities like Vijayawada and Vishakapatnam.

The Seemandhara Lawyer Joint Action Committee (JAC) has also called a 48-hour-bandh in the 13 districts of Seemandhara and the Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers (APNGOs) Association has called for 48-hour blockade of national highways.

By approving Telangana, the Congress has stood to its poll promise; however, the party is yet to decipher how the issue will play out in Seemandhara and Rayalaseema where YSR Congress party has emerged a potent force. 

Jagan’s release on bail after spending 16 months in jail in a corruption case was seen as a sign of the emerging tactic understanding between the YSR Congress Party and the Congress.

However, Jagan dropped a bombshell on the Congress by praising Narendra Modi – implying that he has kept his options open. "What I want Narendra Modi to do is, I appreciate Modi as an administrator, I want Modi to change this entire system in bringing every party on to a secular platform in the interest of the nation," he said. 

Another cause of worry for the Congress is Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy. The CM has already made it more than clear that he is willing to stake his chair for a united Andhra Pradesh.

His opposition may make it that more difficult for the Congress to go ahead with the Telanaga plan.

Kiran Reddy convened an emergency meeting at 11.30 am today with ministers, MPs, MLCs and MLAs from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema to discuss the developments following the Union Cabinet's approval of bifurcation of the state. 

A decision on en masse resignation by ministers and legislators is expected to be taken at the meeting.