Special Report: Political Games Afoot To Divide, Align, Rule

By M H Ahssan / INN Live

The government is grappling with aggressive whiplash over last evening's decision to proceed with the creation of a Telangana state. Three Union ministers have sent their resignation letters to the PM, and Jagan Mohan Reddy says he will go on an indefinite fast from tomorrow against the decision. Amidst huge protests in parts of Andhra Pradesh over the cabinet decision, INN ask on Left, Right And Centre: by putting Telangana on the fast-track has the government made a politically explosive gamble?

'The Politics Behind Telangana Resignations Drama'

By Ramesh Reddy / Hyderabad

INN Live talks on the resignation of the Congress ministers from Seemandhra region over the Telangana issue.

Several central ministers from Seemandhra region have resigned to protest against the Union Cabinet’s decision to create a separate Telangana state. What is the latest information you have on this issue?

What we’ve been given to understand is that, Chiranjeevi (Tourism Minister), Pallam Raju, (HRD Minister) and KS Rao (Textile Minister) have sent their resignations to the Congress President

Exclusive: A Political Gamble 'Pandora' Is Yet To Open In AP

By M H Ahssan / INN Live

The story doing the rounds over the weekend suggests that when Union minister Pallam Raju called on Sonia Gandhi, she asked whether the protests in the Seemandhra region were spontaneous or orchestrated. Pallam Raju said that they were spontaneous and the sentiments against bifurcation had struck deep roots in the region. 
    
But what he did not tell her was that the sentiments had spread because the Kiran led state government did nothing to defuse the agitations by calling the joint action committees of employees- who have been on strike for the last two months- to the negotiating table. “This has deepened the sentiments and has spread from cities down to the villages,” says a Congress leader from Nellore– who would rather remain unnamed. “For the last few days we had been opening our shops only in the evening. 

Commentary: 'Striking A Winning Formula With Alliances'

By Syed Amin Jafri (Guest Writer)

With the Union Cabinet fixing its seal of approval, the UPA government has fast-tracked the process of formation of Telangana state. Volatile Seemandhra agitation and mounting pressure of Samaikyawadi leaders notwithstanding, the Congress high command is keen to ensure that bifurcation process is completed soon enough so that the two states would go to polls to elect their respective Assemblies along with Lok Sabha elections in April 2014. 

Muslim Leadership In TDP Jittery As Naidu Warms To Modi

By Sunita Sharma / Hyderabad

Photographs of TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu shaking hands with BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi splashed in newspapers earlier this week have finally confirmed reports that the former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh is close to striking an alliance with the BJP. Talks of him returning to the NDA fold have been going on in the political circles for a long time. And now, Naidu’s unabashed praise of NDA rule at the Centre and that of Modi’s reign in Gujarat have all endorsed his earlier soft moves towards the saffron party.

Hyderabad's 'Nehru Zoo' Celebrating 'Golden Jubilee' Year

By Arhaan Faraaz / Hyderabad

Fifty years and several thousand visitors later, the Nehru Zoological Park continues to be the most sought after tourist destination on the map of Hyderabad. Beating all heritage sites, museums and the ‘new-age’ resorts in the game of numbers, the city’s zoo, which boasts of an extraordinary assemblage of 1,600-odd animals and birds in near natural settings replete with greenery,has not only registered an exponential rise in footfalls but also witnessed its revenues grow manifold over the past five decades. 

'Cheap Razor Made After P&G Watches Indians Shave'

By Bekul Shah / Mumbai

Procter & Gamble executives say it was striking the first time they witnessed a man shave while sitting barefoot on the floor in a tiny hut in India.

He had no electricity, no running water and no mirror. 

The 20 US-based executives observed the man in 2008 during one of 300 visits they made to homes in rural India. The goal? To gain insights they could use to develop a new razor for India.

'Lakhs May Die If High Magnitude Quake Hits Himalayas'

By Sudheer Sharma / Delhi

Over eight lakh people may die if an earthquake measuring 8 on the Richter scale occurs in the seismically-active Himalayan states from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, National Disaster Management Authority's vice chairman M. Shashidhar Reddy has warned.

The entire Himalayan belt is seismically very active and during a short span of 53 years between 1897 and 1950, four major earthquakes, (Shillong -1897, Kangra -1905, Bihar-Nepal -1934 and Assam -1950) exceeding magnitude 8 on the Richter scale occurred in the region causing vast devastation.