Long live Telangana !!

The Union home minister, Mr P. Chidambaram’s book, A View from Outside, wherein he purportedly supports the idea of smaller states, including Telangana, is now the most sought after by both Samaikya Andhra and pro-Telangana activists.

Opponents of Telangana statehood are accusing Mr Chidambaram of putting his thoughts into practice. They accuse him of destabilising Andhra Pradesh, particularly the IT hub of Hyderabad, and wooing the IT sector to Chennai.

Samaikya Andhra leaders are suspicious of Mr Chidambaram while Telangana protagonists are mighty pleased with the discovery that he supports small states. “Mr Chidambaram has an agenda to destabilise AP, particularly the IT hub of Hyderabad and benefit Chennai,” Mr D. Umamaheshwara told this newspaper. On the other side, Mr Etela Rajender, TRS floor leader, said, “There is nothing wrong with his observations.”

The focus is on the the chapter titled “Politics and Governance” in which Mr Chidambaram wrote: “The jury is still out on Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and Uttaranchal, but the early indications are that development will get a boost in these new states unless, of course, misgovernance takes over.”

He added, “In my view, there is a strong case for the creation of Vidarbha (out of Maharashtra, population 9.67 crore) and Telangana (out of AP population 7.57 crore). Uttar Pradesh and Bihar should also be further divided.”

He also observed that small states have inherent disadvantages such as a high proportion of administrative expenditure to total expenditure and political instability. “It appears, however, that once the states are pushed into a competition mode, political parties try to overcome these disadvantages and work out arrangements under which the government of the day can get on with the business of government.”

K. chadra shekar rao jalak to andhra cunt caller on tv 9 . he shoots by his words, a gr8 leader telangana is awaiting froma ages. long live telangana , jai telangana

From tension and fear to excitement and celebration and then to confusion and uncertainty, the people of Telangana region have seen many shades of emotions during the last few hours.

Ever since the Indian government made its dramatic announcement to accept their 50-year-old demand to make Telangana a state, the people of Hyderabad and the other nine districts of the region have endured a roller-coaster ride.

Thousands of supporters of Telangana came out on the streets late on Wednesday night to see history being made as the word spread like wildfire that the government had met their long-standing demands.

Men, women and the young and old came out of their homes in the dead of the night and gathered at the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences where the leader of the regional Telangana Rashtra Samiti party, K Chandrasekara Rao was under observation by doctors.

Emotional

After 11 days of a "fast unto death" to press the demand for Telangana state, Mr Rao had emerged as a hero for the local masses.

The 55-year-old MP lost almost half of his original weight and has been suffering from many ailments and complications.The news that his demands had finally been accepted came just as doctors were pressurising him to break the fast because his life was in grave danger. But gritty Mr Rao steadfastly refused.

It was to see this man that people had thronged around the hospital where he was being treated. Emotional youngsters armed with drums, crackers and banners descended on the building shouting slogans in honour of "KCR" - the man now known as the "Tiger of Telangana".

"No other leader endangered his life for the poor people of Telangana like KCR has done and achieved his goal," said an emotional youngster, Tayyab, who is unemployed.

"I am sure after Telangana is formed, nobody will be unemployed."

The Centre is planning to conduct another round of talks with all political parties of the state on the issue of separate Telangana after January 28.

Sources said the meeting was aimed at giving assurance that the process of consultation for forming the state was on and would continue.

There was also a plan to hold a meeting of employees, intellectuals and peoples’ organisations in February but this was given up because of the increased tensions in both the regions.

The joint action committee of Telangana has already announced that it would wait till January 28 to submit en masse resignations by all elected public representatives.

“Negotiations and consultations would be there in the process of formation of Telangana,” said Mr Madhu Yashki Goud, MP from Nizamabad. “We are not against talks.”

The Congress high command is working with a three-pronged strategy to sort out the issue.

For one, it is not willing to accept any ‘deadlines’. It would also take stern action on party representatives who press for their resignations. At the same time, it would continue dialogue with all the stakeholders.

Telangana MPs are likely to meet the Union home minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, on Friday as he is holding a consultation process with different political parties in AP over the Telangana issue.