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Telangana tension: KCR critical, streets on edge
NDTV Correspondent, Tuesday December 8, 2009, Hyderabad

New concern in Andhra Pradesh as K Chandrashekhar Rao, or KCR, is reported to be in critical condition in hospital. His doctors say it's imperative that KCR break his hunger fast.

Rao is at the heart of the movement for a separate state of Telangana. He began his fast 10 days ago. In between, he was caught having a glass of juice on camera. This upset his followers; he later insisted his doctors had force-fed him.

Andhra Chief Minister K Rosaiah visited Rao over the weekend to request him to end his fast, but Rao refused. The government worries that reports of his deteriorating health will incite violence in a state that's already simmering over the Telangana movement.

KCR and his party, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) are leading the demand for a separate state of Telangana. Pro-Telangana protesters surrounded the house of Danam Nagender, Andhra's Health Minister, for proposing that Hyderabad should be made a Union territory. They burnt an effigy of Nagendar, described as an "anti-Telangana minister." In response, Nagendar said, "You have a right to protest but you can't make others forcibly shut their mouth. Everyone has a right in a democracy to an opinion."

At Osmania University on Tuesday, students have defied a government order to vacate their hostels. Professors have also threatened to quit if the police is not withdrawn from the campus. Students were lathicharged by the police on Monday. The University closed down last week till the December 18 as a precaution against violence, but it remains in many ways the epicenter of the protests for a Telangana state.

The Telangana issue raged in the Andhra Assembly on Tuesday, forcing the adjournment of the House for the day. The TRS wanted the Chief Minister to move a resolution on Telangana, so that parties could vote on the matter. However, this is dangerous for the ruling Congress, because this could expose its own divisions on the issue. Representatives from the other two regions of Andhra - Rayalseema and coastal Andhra-are opposed to a bifurcation of the state.

Congress: Dealing with Telangana
As Andhra's Congress government struggles to maintain law and order, Chief Minister, K Rosaiah, has said it's upto the Congress' central command in Delhi to decide the issue. He will reportedly fly to Delhi on Wednesday to meet with party president Sonia Gandhi.

The party's High Command held hectic consultations with its MPs from the state on Tuesday, amid diverse pulls and pressures. Almost all the 12 Congress MPs from Telengana region, who favour immediate creation of a separate state, met Law Minister M Veerappa Moily, who is also in charge of the party affairs in Andhra Pradesh. Party MPs from other parts of the state, including Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of late Chief Minister Y S Rajashekhar Reddy, also met Moily.

The consultations followed an all-party meeting held in Hyderabad by Chief Minister K Rosiah in a bid to resolve the sensitive issue.

Sources aware of the deliberations said Moily asked them to come out with their opinions so that the party can have a common stand on the issue. The MPs were also asked not to go on record before the media as differing views can "spoil the weather for the party."

A party spokesperson said that the Congress' stand remains that it is in principle not opposed to a separate state as long as "there is a consensus" on the issue.

But the party may soon have to take a more decided stand. On December 10, all groups supporting the Telagana cause have called a "Chalo Assembly" bandh where people have been asked to march to Hyderabad to protest outside the Assembly. There are growing fears that this demonstration will lead to violence on the streets. Armed reserve police have been summoned from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to work with local policemen and security forces to prevent protesters from entering Hyderabad.
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Tags: K Chandrashekhar Rao, Telangana
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Posted by Bonaparte on Dec 09, 2009
Telangana region was mentioned in the Mahabharata as the Telinga Kingdom[1] which said to be inhabited by the tribe known as Telavana and said to have fought on the Pandava side in the great war of Mahabharata. It is also evident from the fact that there is Pandavula Guhalu in Warangal district (where the Pandavas spent their life in exile (Lakkha Gruham)). And, in Treta yuga, it is believed that Lord Sri Rama along with his consort Sita Devi and brother Lakshmana, spent their life in exile at Parnashala on the banks of Godavari river which is about 25 km from Bhadrachalam in Khammam District of Telangana. Telangana region has been heartland for many great dynasties like Sathavahanas, Kakatiyas. In fact, Kotilingala in Karimnagar is the first Capital of the Sathavahanas before shifting to Dharanikota. Excavations at Kotilingala revealed this fact and coinage of Simukha, Satavahana emperor found. Telangana came under Muslim rule in 14th century for the first time by Delhi Sultanate followed by Bahmanis, Qutb Shahis and Mughals. As the Mughal Empire began to disintegrate in the early 18th century, the Muslim Asafjahi dynasty established a separate state known as Hyderabad. Later Hyderabad entered into a treaty of subsidiary alliance with the British Empire, and was the largest and most populous princely state in India. Telangana was never under direct British rule, unlike Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of Andhra Pradesh, which were part of British India's Madras Presidency.
Posted by Bonaparte on Dec 09, 2009
Readers Must konw the below: 1969 Movement In the following years after the formation of Andhra Pradesh state, however, the Telangana people had a number of complaints about how the agreements and guarantees were implemented. Discontent with the 1956 Gentleman's agreement intensified in January 1969 when the guarantees that had been agreed on were supposed to lapse. Student agitation for the continuation of the agreement began at Osmania University in Hyderabad and spread to other parts of the region. Government employees and opposition members of the state legislative assembly swiftly threatened "direct action" in support of the students. This movement, also known as Telangana movement, led to widespread violence and deaths of hundreds of people and students of this Telangana region. Approximately 360 students gave their lives in this movement.[2] Although the Congress faced dissension within its ranks, its leadership stood against additional linguistic states, which were regarded as "anti-national." As a result, defectors from the Congress, led by M. Chenna Reddy, founded the Telangana People's Association (Telangana Praja Samithi). Despite electoral successes, however, some of the new party leaders gave up their agitation in September 1971 and, much to the disgust of many separatists, rejoined the safer political haven of the Congress ranks.[3] [edit] Movement in 1990-2004 The emotions and forces generated by the movement were not strong enough, however, for a continuing drive for a separate state until 1990s when Bharatiya Janata Party, promised a separate Telangana state if they came to power. But the BJP could not create a separate Telangana state because of the opposition from its coalition partner, Telugu Desam Party. These developments brought new life into the separatist Telangana movement by year 2000. Congress party MLAs from the Telangana region, supported a separate Telangana state and formed the Telangana Congress Legislators Forum.[4][5][6][7][8] In another development, a new party called Telangana Rashtra Samithi (or TRS) was formed with the single point agenda of creating a separate Telangana state, with Hyderabad as its capital lead by Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhar Rao popularily known as KCR.[9][10][11] Proponents of a separate Telangana state feel.. all the agreements, accords, formulas, plans and assurances on the floor of legislature and Lok Sabha, in last 50 years, could not be honoured and Telangana was forced to remain neglected, exploited and backward. The experiment to remain as one State proved to be a futile exercise and therefore, separation is found to be the best solution
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