Congress leaders outside Andhra Pradesh Assembly.
For nearly three hours, close to 100 members of the Congress, including over 60 lawmakers and a dozen ministers, held a large demonstration at the Andhra Pradesh legislature today. Their protest is against their own party's decision to carve out one of the three regions in their state - Telangana - as a new state.
The political protesters today belong to the other two regions of Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema- often referred to as "Seemandhra." In many of their constituencies, daily protests have been held for the last 35 days to demand a 'United Andhra'.
But underscoring the predicament of the bifurcation of the state, there were two opposite and equal groups of government employees also protesting at the legislature today.
Hundreds from Telangana stared down others from Seemandhra; police barricades placed between them ensured a fragile balance.
Yesterday Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde confirmed that the process of creating a Telangana state will begin within 20 days when a note detailing the process will be reviewed by the cabinet.
After that, a group of ministers will start evaluating how to divide water, electricity and revenue between the old and new states.
At the centre of the dispute is Hyderabad with its verdant IT industry and attendant rich investments. The government had first said that for 10 years, the city would be a shared capital between the old and new states.
But sources now say that a proposal to make Hyderabad a Union Territory is being discussed and "wider consultations" will follow.
On Saturday, Seemandhra activists and politicians say they will hold a march to "Hyderabad to save Andhra Pradesh". The Hyderabad Police has imposed prohibitory orders within two km of the Secretariat and the state Assembly from September 4 to 10, banning any rally during the period.