New Delhi/Hyderabad:
Pro-Telangana groups are angry at the Centre deferring a decision on whether Andhra Pradesh should be split to create a separate state, and they plan protests in Hyderabad, focused on putting political pressure on the ruling Congress to stick to its deadline on the matter. The Telangana Joint Action Committee or TJAC is likely to call for social boycott of Congress ministers. Last month, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had set January 28, today, as the deadline for resolving the politically volatile and emotive issue, but the government said yesterday that it needed more discussions.
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The Hyderabad police is on alert. It has allowed protesters to continue a 36-hour dharna at Hyderabad's Indira Park today, but has said no more than 2000 people can gather at a time. Police officers have been asked to ensure that large numbers of people do not enter the city.
Civil society groups, as part of the TJAC, are fronting the demand for a separate state at the Indira Park protest. Leaders from political parties like the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and BJP, which unequivocally support a separate state, have been part of the protests. The activists are reportedly preparing a political action plan to force the Congress, which rules both in Andhra Pradesh and at the Centre, to take a decision.
In the Congress, as in several other political parties, there is no consensus. Representatives from Telangana want a new state. Those from the two other regions - coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema - don't.
Congress leaders who favour a separate Telangana were heckled at the protest site last night; there is a demand that the Congress' ministers, MPs and MLAs resign to demonstrate their loyalty to the Telangana cause and exert pressure on their party leadership. Some of the activists even courted arrest. The Kiran Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh has a razor-thin majority of only one in the state Assembly and can ill-afford the resignation of its pro-Telangana MLAs. Some pro-Telangana ministers are meeting in the afternoon, reports say that some of them may resign today.
Today, K Chandrasekhar Rao or KCR of the TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi) party, who has led the political campaign for a separate Telangana, is expected to address the demonstrators. "It's an insult to the democratic institution called Parliament and its an insult to the people of Telangana as well," KCR's son, KT Rama Rao said after senior Congress leader Ghulam Navi Azad said yesterday that more consultations are needed on the issue.
Even before the announcement of a deferral yesterday, there were protests at Osmania University in Hyderabad, which has been the epicentre of the pro-Telangana movement with repeated clashes between the students and the police.
In December 2009, a lengthy hunger fast by KCR found huge support, and then Home Minister P Chidambaram, in a surprise midnight announcement, said Telangana would be on its own state. Violent protests in non-Telangana areas and a chorus of criticism by their leaders surprised the Centre. Many parties which had backed the division of the state rescinded their support. The decision to create a new state was suspended.
Last month, representatives of eight parties in the state were invited to Delhi for an all-party meeting. Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde promised a decision by January 28. But yesterday, Ghulam Nabi Azad said the Centre will consult again with leaders from the three regions of Andhra Pradesh. "There is no deadline, but the talks will be held as soon as possible," he said.
At the heart of the Telangana dispute is the booming economy of Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh. If it is assigned to Telangana, the poorer regions of coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema would take an economic hit.
Critics of the Central government attribute its indecision on calculations for next year's general elections. Andhra Pradesh, which sends 42 members to the Lok Sabha, will play a starring role in deciding whether the Congress returns to power - 17 of the state's 42 seats are in Telangana. It is wary of the obvious popularity of former Congress leader Jagan Mohan Reddy, who founded his own party in 2011. Mr Reddy's father, YSR, who was chief minister when he died in a helicopter crash in 2009, was given all the credit for the Congress winning 156 seats in that year's general elections.
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