Should President's Rule Be Imposed To Create Telangana?

By M H Ahssan / INN Live

Contrary to the prevailing opinion, in this country, new state formation has never been smooth. Nor were the procedures exactly similar. Each state formation was unique and had followed a different sequence of steps.

The only thing common to all the state formations so far in Independent India has been the rigid applicability of Article 3 in its truest sense, where Parliament is given the supreme authority to carve out states irrespective of the opinion of the involved State Assemblies.

While the NDA followed a convenient procedure in the creation of Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand in 2000, where the state assemblies initiated the demand for separation, such a procedure is neither legally mandated nor is constitutionally prescribed and deviates from most other prior state formations. 

'Telangana, Jagan Are Key To 2014 Polls In Andhra Pradesh'

INN News Desk

The issue of Telangana and YSR Congress president Yeduguri Sandinti Jaganmohan Reddy would loom large in the voter consciousness when Andhra Pradesh goes to polls in 2014, said a survey. Conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), the survey reveals that the voting behaviour in Telangana would be largely shaped by the central government’s final position on the contentious statehood issue. As many as 88 percent of the respondents from the region said they would take a decision after the Union government clarifies its position. The state goes to assembly polls next year too.

Drought-led migration makes girls prey to trafficking, pushes Andhra Pradesh's Kadiri towards HIV/AIDS

Dr Mano Ranjan has been working at the Institute of Infectious Diseases situated on the Anantapur-Kadiri Road in Andhra Pradesh since 2009. This is the premier institute for the entire Rayalaseema region (southern Andhra Pradesh) for those suffering from HIV/AIDS. Dr Ranjan gets 25 new HIV/AIDS patients every day. "It is a ticking time bomb," he says.

Thirty percent of the cases are from hamlets in and around Kadiri, unarguably the HIV/AIDS capital of Andhra Pradesh. The hospital has 26,000 plus registered cases, 8,000 of whom are widows. It is shocking that most of the victims are in the age group of 25 to 40. Another 3,000 cases are children born most often to an HIV-positive parent.

When 'Telangana' Separated With Andhra Pradesh State?

By M H Ahssan | INNLIVE

ANALYSIS Fifty-eight years after the unification of Telangana and Andhra region, the Lok Sabha separated them by dividing the state of Andhra Pradesh. After blacking out the live coverage of the Telangana debate on Lok Sabha TV, the Hower House voted for Telangana state in a controversial voice vote. Interestingly, both Congress and BJP joined hands to divide Andhra Pradesh. Only the TMC and JDU staged a walkout calling it a murder of democracy.

According to experts the Congress which is staring at a rout in most parts of the country is likely to win big in Telangana which has 17 Lok Sabha and 119 Assembly seats. The Congress is expected to be decimated in Seemandhra region.

Analysis: It’s Congress Vs Cong On Telangana Formation

By M H Ahssan / INN Live

With Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy opposing the Congress Working Committee’s decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh, the party is looking at various options to rein him in.

Bucking the trend of Congress leaders unquestioningly falling in line with the high command’s diktat, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy has launched a one-man rebellion over Telangana, which seasoned party managers are struggling to quell before it gets out of hand.

Telangana or No Telangana, Congress Has Already Lost Andhra

Fact no. 1 : The Congress will not bite the bullet on Telangana
Fact no. 2 : Even without biting the bullet, the Congress has shot itself in the foot and is dying a slow death

The ruling party may well write off Andhra Pradesh, when it sits down to do its calculations for where its MPs for UPA 3 will come from. In the previous two editions, the state led from the front, sending 29 and 33 Congressmen and women to the Lok Sabha.

But if you have your ear to the ground, you can predict that the Congress tally from Andhra Pradesh will be reduced to single digits in the general elections next year.

The general impression is that indecision on Telangana will spell the Congress party’s doom. Yes, its procrastination will certainly contribute to its discomfiture but I suspect it won’t be the only reason.

The Congress will lose out because its ministers are either busy making trips to prison for earlier misdemeanors or are at each other’s throat.

It will lose out because the government in Hyderabad is remote controlled from Delhi and suffers from a serious governance deficit. Industry, agriculture and the domestic sector are all fed up with the long power cuts and Rahul Gandhi will realise that lack of power is also poison.

Make no mistake, the Andhra Pradesh voter is not a fool to be blind to what is happening around him/her.

He/she gave a warning to the Congress led by Y S Rajasekhara Reddy in 2009, when he/she returned only 156 of its candidates to the state assembly, a comedown from 185 in 2004. It meant that the ruling party had a wafer thin majority of just seven above the half way mark.

Interestingly, the voter also displayed an ability to distinguish between assembly and Lok Sabha polls when 33 

Congress MPs were elected on the same day of polling. If the party had indeed managed to win all the assembly seats under those Lok Sabha constituencies, it would have crossed the 230 mark in an Assembly of 294 with ease. But it was not to be.

The message was loud and clear : While the voter was willing to trust the Congress to rule the country in 2009, the party was on notice in Andhra Pradesh. The pity is that the Congress did not see the writing on the wall.

Now its inability to untie the Telangana knot has only compounded its misery. But the problem also is that the Congress is not looking to resolve the Telangana tangle by taking a firm stand on whether it is good for the people in Andhra Pradesh and also the country.

It is looking at the issue through the prism of 2014. Which means if an `arrangement’ with Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSR Congress will fetch it better electoral dividends in the next Lok Sabha, it will decide to maintain status quo on the state’s boundaries. But if Jagan plays truant, it could redraw Andhra Pradesh’s borders closer to the elections.

Strangely for a ruling party, Congress today is in a situation where it has nothing to lose and everything to gain. Over the next few months, efforts will also be made to ensure that if Telangana is given, the credit does not go to any non-Congress player. The non-Congress Telangana votaries realise that and as elections draw nearer, every politician will indulge in a lot more posturing to project himself as the true champion of the region’s interests.

To ensure the other two regions are not a washout for the party, Seemandhra leaders are also being encouraged to raise the decibel levels. Congress MP U Arun Kumar’s anti-bifurcation conclave in Rajahmundry a couple of days ago was an effort in that direction.

There is also a short-term reason to Ghulam Nabi Azad and Sushil Kumar Shinde’s jugalbandi seeking more time. The party wants to hold the carrot of statehood to its MPs from the region to ensure the Budget session of Parliament does not hit the Telangana speedbreaker. They do not want its Telangana MPs to play truant like they did during the FDI vote, which forced Shinde to call an all-party meeting on Telangana on 28 December.

With all indications that Andhra Pradesh will turn out to be Andhera Pradesh for the Congress, someone needs to hire emergency lamps quick. Or just put out a board saying : `Power Cut’.

Telangana Slips Into Agitation 2.0 As KCR Plans 'Kejriwal Act' At Delhi

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

Telangana state is geared up to agitation 2.0 demanding the proper bifurcation of the state on certain long pending issues.

Two years after he secured the state of Telangana after a 13-year-long struggle, K Chandrasekhar Rao will wear the hat of a protester once again. The chief minister of Telangana now plans to do an Arvind Kejriwal by sitting on a dharna in the country's capital, to protest against the delay in bifurcation of the High court of Hyderabad.

‍‍Will Andhra Pradesh People Ever Forgive Congress Party?

In the context of the manifest as well as probable consequences of the bifurcation of combined Andhra Pradesh, the moot question for the Congress is: Will the people of residual Andhra Pradesh ever forgive us?

The grand old party, due its 'misguided' strategy, is yet to come out of the clutches of the 'Frankenstein' monster it had unleashed by way of bifurcation. There is no doubt that the people of Telangana benefited more from bifurcation than those of residual AP, considering that bifurcation per se was carried out by flouting all democratic norms and without even a proper discussion in Parliament.  

Of course, the Congress was aware that it would lose the goodwill of voters in the Andhra region, considering that the very dea of bifurcation was initially rejected by the legislature of the undivided AP by voice vote.

The Congress had forged post-poll alliance with the YSR Congress party headed by YS Jaganmohan Reddy. The Congress thought that there would be no political harm for itself in the 2014 elections due to AP's bifurcation should it fail to get a single seat. It was confident of getting support from the eventual winner with a good number of seats. With this reading, the Congress looked confident of getting maximum Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, ahead of the UPA government granting the new state. This was on top of the possible support coming from Andhra with its arrangement with YSRC should it emerge victorious.  

Now, the Congress is planning to restart its political journey in Andhra Pradesh with it new-found promise of Special Category Status (SCS) that was assured by then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on the floor of the Rajya Sabha. Later, it was denounced by the BJP government, though arguments in favour of the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh were then made by none other than M. Venkaiah Naidu in the Upper House.

In fact, Venkaiah Naidu had suggested that SCS should be given for 10 years, instead of the five-year period assured by the Prime Minister. The Congress picked up the slogan of SCS that was rejected by the BJP government, though it had previously backed SCS.

The Congress got political life and life support from the people of undivided AP twice. The Congress got 41 Lok Sabha seats out of 42 in AP in the 1977 elections, after it faced a humiliating defeat all over the country in the post-Emergency period that turned the destiny of Congress. People of AP had given 30-plus Lok Sabha seats in two  consecutive elections  -- 2004 & 2009 that literally helped the UPA rule the country for 10 years as there was no other state in the rest of the country that had given the party such huge number of seats. The Congress' plight then can be understood from the fact that in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress got only two seats (Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi).

Hence, the Congress is trying woo Andhra Pradesh without treading on the tender toes of Telangana people.  Its USP is that it granted T-State knowing fully well the fact that it would badly affect its political prospects in the residuary state of AP. It is OK if it is seen as having had a hidden understanding with the YSRCP of Jaganmohan Reddy on possible post-poll support.

Considering the negative implications of taking up SCS, especially in the context of Telangana Rashtra Samiti's oft-repeated assertion that 'Andhra' leaders had given a short shrift to Telangana region in the combined AP, the Congress has started making it clear that its support for SCS to AP would not be at the cost of the interests of people of Telangana.

Former president of AICC Rahul Gandhi had a series of meetings with Andhra leaders on the possibilities left for reaching out to people of AP. Naturally, it was pointed out that the grand old party had deceived the people of Andhra in the process of bifurcation. Nobody had a clear answer when Rahul Gandhi reportedly asked: "Will the people of Andhra Pradesh ever forgive us?"  

However, all of them underlined that a committed approach towards realisation of SCS would enable the party to win back the confidence of AP people to some extent so that the party can regain lost ground in the not-so-distant future. The leaders also drove home their point that proximity with Chandrababu Naidu of TDP would be detrimental to the interests of the party. According to them, the Congress can bank on 7-8 per cent of the voters in AP.  But for its truck with TDP, its vote bank would have been 10% of voters.

Political strategist and psephologist Prashant Kishor (PK) has been asked to look into the ways in which the party can reach out to people of AP after overcoming the minus points related to bifurcation. PK had worked with YSRCP, which emerged victorious in the 2019 polls winning 151 Assembly seats out of 175, creating history. Despite being asked to work for YSRCP again in 2024 by none other than Jagan at a thanksgiving programme, Prasanth did not agree this time.

Congress had to first choose one person to head the party in the state in place of P. Sailajanath. The name of former Chief Minister N.Kiran Kumar Reddy surfaced. Despite Kiran's reluctance to helm the Congress over its questionable role in the bifurcation episode, he is being pressurized to accept the responsibility.

Will this high-profile man accept the offer made by the party's high command is a big question? Before Kiran gives an answer, the Congress per se has a long troublesome journey ahead. #KhabarLive #hydnews

In AP, There is no Politics Without Media Ownership

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy will unveil the logo of a new television channel in Hyderabad – 10TV – today. What’s new, you may ask, in a state that is already home to more than 15 Telugu news channels, the highest in any state?

10TV‘s USP is that it is owned by some two lakh people in Andhra Pradesh. Developed on a unique ownership model, Rs 60 crore has been mobilised over the last two months with the aam aadmi and aam aurat of the state backing this media initiative. Buying shares at Rs 10 a share, ordinary people have thus been made into indirect media proprietors. In a couple of districts, entire villages have bought shares and teachers and bank and insurance employees have been the most enthusiastic about the venture. Interestingly, some 300 daily labourers in a town in coastal Andhra Pradesh have bought into the idea of this “People’s TV channel”.

How does it work? The shareholders have elected a board of directors which, in turn, has appointed a news team. The managing director is, in fact, an insurance sector employee and the Chairman is K Nageshwar, a Professor of Journalism and an Independent MLC in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative council.

“Press Commissions have in the past suggested delinking big business from media ownership. This is the alternate model that can work,” says Nageshwar. “We are not saying it will be an arty kind of news channel. It will be a fiercely independent mainstream channel where the attempt will be to broadcast news highlighting the people’s point of view, in keeping with our ownership pattern.”

It won’t be easy. The channel, which intends to go on the air in January, is banking on what it calls “the power of the collective” where the two lakh shareholders will spread the word about the channel to their friends and relatives. The idea is to use them to market the channel and as citizen journalists. The viewership, the management team hopes, will be good enough to attract ads.

But in a state where political ownership of the electronic media is rampant, it is difficult not to see a red hand in 10TV. The involvement of several Leftist unions, that helped spread the word among employees to mobilise funds has led many to believe that 10TV is a CPM-backed channel, a charge the management denies.

While he unveils the logo, Kiran Kumar Reddy would do well to take a close look at the business model that 10TV has, since he, through a friend, is now ‘controlling’ a television channel in the state. Though the chief minister denies ‘owning’ a TV channel, sources say those who picked up a 51 percent stake in I-News have his backing. The content since 1 December, when the deal became effective, has been distinctly pro-Kiran Kumar and pro-Congress, with dollops of praise showered on Sonia Gandhi.

A few weeks ago, two Congress leaders close to Kiran Reddy had bought a little-known channel ATV in the hope that the CM will back the venture. But with a more popular I-News in its bag, ATV may at best play a supporting role.

What makes the media scene in Andhra Pradesh interesting is that Kiran Reddy”s Transport Minister, Botsa Satyanarayana, is also his rival in the media business. Last quarter, Satyanarayana’s family picked up a controlling stake in Zee 24 Ghantalu and it helps that the Congress PCC chief also dominates the cable business in his backyard in north coastal Andhra Pradesh.

Lok Sabha MP G Vivek and his brother, former Labour Minister G Vinod, run V6, which means the Congress has three media channels to market its products to the people as elections draw near. However, the risk is that each of the channels will work more earnestly for their bosses and less for the party.

For the last three years, Congress leaders have fretted and fumed over rival Jagan Mohan Reddy’s Sakshi TV belting out news with an anti-Congress slant. In fact, after the drubbing it received in the byelections in June, a ministerial committee had suggested that the Congress party have its own TV channel in Andhra Pradesh.

The Telangana Rashtra Samiti has its T-News while CPI plans to launch TV99 next year. The only party without a TV channel of its own is Telugu Desam and its boss Chandrababu Naidu, once the darling of the media, has to depend on two TV channels that are friendly to him. Studio N, which Naidu’s son Lokesh ran, is no longer in his control.

Every politician finds the idea of owning a TV channel seductive because it helps him broadcast his version of the news and also rubbish his rivals on air. But while they think they can sway the undecided voter to their side, the fact remains that in this era of the remote, the viewer has no channel loyalty. So if he wants to get K Chandrasekhar Rao’s point of view, he will watch T-News and Sakshi TV if he wants to get Jagan’s version.

In this environment of politically owned and politically biased channels in Andhra Pradesh, the viewer is certainly not king.  The owner is.

Political Play: AP Govt Bid To Take Control Of Sakshi Media Group Aimed At Crippling Naidu’s Rival Jagan

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

The state hopes to do this by using a new law framed to recover the ill-gotten assets of public servants.

When the Telugu Desam Party came to power in Andhra Pradesh in 2014, its Rajya Sabha MP CM Ramesh predicted that YSR Congress chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s troubles had just begun. He said that the TDP would ensure that corruption cases against Reddy are pursued vigorously. The gameplan was clear: ensure Reddy’s prosecution before the next round of polls in 2019 so that the path to Chandrababu Naidu’s second term as chief minister is clear.

Is The United Andhra Agitation A Manufactured Rage?

By M H Ahssan / INN Live

The counter agitation for a united Andhra Pradesh pushes the state to the brink of anarchy. In the past couple of months, a previously unheard of movement has been gathering force in Andhra Pradesh. Telangana agitators rejoiced after the UPA government’s announcement that the region would be carved out of Andhra Pradesh as the 29th state of India. Soon, a largely apolitical counter movement for Samaikyandhra — a United AP — started gaining currency, in which employees of the government and private sectors started protesting the formation of a separate state.

Is The United Andhra Agitation A Manufactured Rage?

By M H Ahssan | INN Live

The counter agitation for a united Andhra Pradesh pushes the state to the brink of anarchy. In the past couple of months, a previously unheard of movement has been gathering force in Andhra Pradesh. Telangana agitators rejoiced after the UPA government’s announcement that the region would be carved out of Andhra Pradesh as the 29th state of India. Soon, a largely apolitical counter movement for Samaikyandhra — a United AP — started gaining currency, in which employees of the government and private sectors started protesting the formation of a separate state.

Which New State Is Being Created: Telangana Or Andhra?

By M H Ahssan / INN Live

In the December of Year 2000, India's 26th, 27th and 28th states, namely Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, were born. They came out of the shadows of their parent provinces split from -- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, respectively. With new capitals, they were to find their separate identities. But the case of the upcoming 29th state, Telangana, is starkly different. 

Its birth would eclipse the parent state itself, reducing it to nothing but a small block (Rayalseema) and a coastal strip (Coastal Andhra) on the map of the country. In case of UP, MP and Bihar, their names and respective capitals remained the same. In case of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh would cease to exist. And Hyderabad will not be capital of Andhra, but Telangana. In the scheme of states, it's Seemandhra that will be born. Telangana would just acquire the name Telangana.

The ‘United Andhra Pradesh’ Cry Gets Louder & Louder

By Purnima Kiran / Hyderabad

The decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh has not been welcomed by everyone. Last week’s rally was the beginning of a counter movement. On 7 September, over 40,000 people from all over Andhra Pradesh, mostly professionals, gathered at Hyderabad’s LB Stadium under the banner of the Samaikyandhra Parirakshana Vedika to protest the bifurcation of the state. Spearheaded by the Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers’ Association (APNGOA), the rally marked the first big event in the movement for a united Andhra Pradesh. Proponents of Telangana, however, believe that the meeting has set the two movements on a collision course.

Loan Waiver Scheme Fails To Save AP Ryots

CAG Study Finds Farmers Selling Organs To Extricate Themselves From Debt Trap. Almost five years after the UPA government allocated the lion’s share of its Rs 52,000 crore farm loan waiver scheme to Andhra Pradesh, reports are emerging from the state that distressed farmers are selling their organs to come out of the agricultural debt trap. 
    
Three states – Andhra Pradesh, UP and Maharashtra – had got almost 57% of the Rs 52,000 crore package meant for all 35 states and Union Territories. Disbursal in Andhra Pradesh was Rs 11,000 crore while it was Rs 9,095 crore in UP and Rs 8,900 crore in Maharashtra. The farm loan waiver has been cited as one of the main vote-catchers for the Congress in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls and this was vindicated in the party’s handsome performance in the three states with the largest allocations. While Congress bagged 31 seats in Andhra, it got 22 in UP and 16 in Maharashtra, a performance which facilitated formation of the second UPA government at the Centre. 
    
In Andhra Pradesh, around 77 lakh farmers cornered more than Rs 11,000 crore, almost 21% of the total farm loan waiver package. But as the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report reveals, a huge number of ineligible farmers were allowed waiver while many marginal and small farmers were denied the benefit and they continued to remain in a debt trap. 
    
CAG detected tampering with loan records, alteration in ledgers and changing records where non-agricultural loans were converted into agricultural loans. 
    
In one such instance, the auditor pointed out how the AP Grameen Bank in Ballikurava had altered land holdings of at least 17 loanees so as to alter their category and make them eligible for full waiver in the marginal farmer category. These irregularities were noticed not just in Andhra Pradesh but across several states were sample study was carried out by the auditor. 
    
The CAG’s sample study was carried out over 715 bank branches in 92 districts of 25 states involving more than 80,000 farmers’ loan accounts. The disbursement to these farmers amounted to Rs 330 crore. 
    
In Andhra Pradesh, scrutiny of 3,200 loan accounts revealed that in at least 132 cases, ineligible benefits were allowed, highest among all states bar J&K where the sample study found ineligible benefits were allowed to 153 farmers. In close to 100 cases in Andhra Pradesh, the CAG found benefits extended to farmers on loans which were not disbursed in the first place.

Hyderabad Blasts: Loud Enough To Wake Up The AP Police?

Even if the bomb blasts had not happened at Dilsukhnagar in Hyderabad on Thursday evening, Andhra Pradesh police would still have been busy. Its focus for the last two weeks or so was on how to handle the rasta roko ((sadak bandh) called by the Telangana Joint Action Committee on the Hyderabad-Bangalore National Highway on and the Hyderabad-Vijayawada National Highway on 2 March.

Interestingly, the geographical location of Dilsukhnagar – it leads to the Vijayawada Highway and one can also access the Bangalore Highway by passing through it – meant the area was being closely looked at to create an alternate route for commuters on the two days.

Over the last four days, there has been a furious debate over whether the police did not act on intelligence inputs – generic or specific – to neutralise the terrorists. Fact of the matter is that the Andhra Pradesh police does spend quality time in collecting intelligence. Except that it is mostly political in nature.

Andhra Pradesh is not an exception. It is the way ruling parties in all states have always used their police force. In Andhra Pradesh, the Telangana agitation, Jaganmohan Reddy rebellion and the MIM trouble has meant the establishment is always interested in knowing what its political rivals are up to. So snooping on politicians (who met who and where, when, why and how) gains priority over gathering intelligence on those who are plotting sinister terror attacks. The Counter Intelligence Cell which is entrusted with the task of gathering intelligence related to terror suspects, finds itself under a cloud after the twin blasts.

Even when intelligence inputs are passed on to the cops on the field, it does not necessarily translate into action. With the state frequently in agitation mode, cops are forced to do tiring bandobast duty. During the communal skirmishes in the Old city area of Hyderabad in November for example, city police commissioner Anurag Sharma conceded that every last constable was deployed.

The State Intelligence Bureau (SIB) is totally focused on combating Maoist activity. Which in effect means doing nothing much, since Maoism in Andhra Pradesh has been steadily on the wane since 2005, barring a few pockets in Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB) zone.

It is a criticism the police force is unwilling to accept. Senior officers point out that if Hyderabad has not seen a terror attack since August 2007, it is also because the counter intelligence machinery is up to the task of neutralising sleeper cells and keeping tabs on suspicious movements. Chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has been batting for his cops and points out that arrests carried out in Bihar, Delhi or Karnataka could not have taken place but for critical intelligence provided by Andhra Pradesh policemen.

But there are other issues with the way the Home department functions. The appointment of Sabitha Indra Reddy as Home minister is seen as mere tokenism – a woman minister from Telangana – as she is like a fish out of water in the tough world of modern-day policing. She is not in the P Chidambaram mould, someone who can contribute to the efficient working of the police force. As a result, it is the Chief Minister’s office that already has enough on its plate, who the top cops report to.

Security analysts point out that there is an urgent need to relook at postings because not many young officers who would have the aptitude to understand hi-tech gizmos used by terror groups and connect the dots technically have been posted in critical wings of the police.

The police force also has seen turbulence at the top in the last one year. DGP Dinesh Reddy and another DG rank officer Umesh Kumar have been lodged both in a war of words in and outside court. The legal battle that has seen them accuse each other of filing false affidavits, forgery and corruption has not brought any credit to the prestige of the office they hold.

The sound of the blast at Dilsukhnagar was so loud that it is feared that at least 40 of those injured would suffer loss of hearing. For the sake of the safety of the people of Andhra Pradesh, one hopes the sound is more of a wake-up call for the state police force.

'Cong, TDP Trade Blows Rescued Andhra Pradesh Pilgrims'

By Swati Reddy / Dehradun

Congress leaders got into fisticuffs with Telugu Desam Party politicians on Wednesday over providing assistance to pilgrims from Andhra Pradesh stranded after floods in Uttarakhand. The leaders of both parties fought each other at the Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun.

Congress and TDP have already been engaged in war of words over relief operations in the rain-ravaged state but it finally came to blows.

'If Telangana Created, Demands Will Erupt In Other States'

By Arhaan Faraaz | Hyderabad

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW  Article 3 of the Constitution that provides for forming a new State is being misused like never before, YSR Congress leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy said on Wednesday.

In an exclusive interview to INN Live, he said he would spare no effort to make leaders of political parties understand the consequences of dividing Andhra Pradesh. “Today if you permit this [creation of Telangana State) to happen, very soon it will spread to every other State and Andhra Pradesh will be seen as a precedent.”

Why Jagan Reddy Won’t Try Any Pre-Poll Alliances In AP?

By Saye Sekhar | Hyderabad

Why is YS Jaganmohan Reddy not open to a pre-poll alliance with any political party? Jagan desires to leave the door ajar for a post-poll alliance with the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the hot favourite to occupy the treasury benches in the Parliament.

In the seat-sharing talks between the Telugu Desam Party and the BJP too, there seems to be a deadlock -- a natural part of any negotiation process -- but it's not all over yet with the state unit of the BJP stating that the central party leadership will make the final decision. 

Special Report: Land Pooling Strategy For The New Andhra Capital Could Become A Model For India's Smart Cities

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

Andhra Pradesh's experiment with voluntary land pooling could provide an alternative to forcible land acquisition.

Tallayapalem is a village like many others in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur district. It has lush green fields, and its prosperity is evident from the concrete houses scattered along its central thoroughfare. Somewhat incongruously, one field off the main road houses a canvas tent under which a small group of policemen has been doing 24-hour duty since June 6, 2015.