తెలంగాణా సమాజం ఈ పరీక్షలు వద్దంటున్నది, జీవితం మొత్తం యుద్ధమేనా ? ఇలా ఇంకెంత కాలం? గ్రూప్-1ను మేమే అడ్డుకుంటం, కె.సి.ఆర్.హెచ్చరిక

తెలంగాణా సమాజం యావత్తూ, అన్ని పార్టీల శాసనసభ్యులు, ఆఖరికి మంత్రులు, న్యాయవాదులు, అధ్యాపకులు అందరూ గ్రూప్-1 పరీక్షలు వద్దు అంటుంటే తుపాకులు పెట్టి అయినా, 144 సెక్షన్ విధించి అయినా పరీక్షలు పెడతమంటున్నరు. ఇదేం పద్ధతి ? - అని తెలంగాణా రాష్ట్ర సమితి (టి.ఆర్.ఎస్.) అధ్యుక్షుడు కె. చంద్రశేఖర రావు ప్రశ్నించారు.

తెలంగాణ విద్యార్ధులు తమ వాటా తమకు న్యాయంగా దక్కాలని కోరుతుంటే లేదు, పోలీసు తూటాలతో పరీక్షలు జరిపిస్తమని అహంకారంగా మాట్లాడుతున్నరని, తూటాలు, లాఠీలతో తెలంగాణా విద్యార్థిని నిలువరించలేరని ఆయన ప్రభుత్వాన్ని హెచ్చరించారు. అందరూ వాయిదా వేయాలని అడుగుతుంటే, వాయిదా వేసేది లేదని ఇంత మొండికేస్తున్న ప్రభుత్వానికి గుణపాఠం చె ప్పే తీర్తమని ఆయన అన్నారు. బుల్లెట్ల వర్షం కురిసినా రేపటి గ్రూప్-1 పరీక్షలను అడ్డుకు తీర్తమని ఆయన హెచ్చరించారు.

మెదక్ జిల్లాలో పెద్ద ఎత్తున తెలంగాణ రాష్ట్ర సమితిలో చేరిన ఇతర పార్టీల కార్యకర్తలకు తెలంగాణ భవన్‌లో స్వాగతం పలుకుతూ రాష్ట్రంలో కాదు, దేశంలో కాదు, అసలు ప్రపంచంలో ఎక్కడైనా తుపాకుల పహరాలో పరీక్షలు జరిగినవా అని ఆయన ప్రశ్నించారు. పరీక్షలు అంటే ఎంతో ప్రశాంతంగా ఉండాలని, విద్యార్ధుల మానసిక పరిస్థితి ప్రశాంతంగా ఉండాల్సి ఉండగా, 144 వ సెక్షన్ పెట్టి పరీక్షలు పెడ్తమని అంటున్నరని ఆయన ఎద్దేవా చేశారు.

జీవితం మొత్తం యుద్ధమేనా ? ఇలా ఇంకెంత కాలం?
జీవితం మొత్తం యుద్ధమేనా ? ఇలా ఇంకెంత కాలం? నీళ్లకోసం, నిధులకోసం, ఉద్యోగాలకోసం, ఆఖరికి ఎరువులకోసం కూడా యుద్ధం చేయవలసి వస్తున్నది. ఆంధ్రలో ఎరువులు వెంటవెంటనే దొరుకుతయ్, మరి తెలంగాణాలో ప్రతి రోజు ఉరకాలె, ఇదేం పద్ధతి అని ఆయన ప్రశ్నించారు.

ఎ.పి.పి.ఎస్.సి. పుట్టినప్పటినుంచి ఇప్పటివరకూ తెలంగాణాకు అన్యాయమే జరిగింది అని, అందుకే తెలంగాణఆ ప్రజలకు న్యాయం జరగాలంటే తెలంగాణ వచ్చాకే సాధ్యమని ఆయన అన్నారు. ఆ విషయాన్ని గుర్తించే మొన్నటి ఎన్నికల్లో గుండెలు చీల్చి మరీ తెలంగాణా ప్రజలు తమ తీర్పు చెప్పిన్రు. అందుకే ఇప్పుడు అన్ని పార్టీలూ ఖాళీ అవుతున్నయ్. పదేండ్ల క్రితం నేను ఒక్కణ్ణే, ఇప్పుడు ప్రజలంతా ఏకమై ఎక్కడ చూచినా సముద్రమైన్రు అని ఆయన అన్నారు.

సమైక్య రాష్ట్రంలో మనకి న్యాయం జరగదు, కాబట్టే డిసెంబర్ తర్వాత జరిగే మహాయుద్ధానికి అందరూ ఇప్పటినుంచే వీర సైనికులై కదలిరావాలి అని కె.సి.ఆర్. పిలుపు ఇచ్చారు.

AP on boil over Telangana activists

Andhra Pradesh is on the boil yet again, this time over recruitment exam for the Group-1 category posts in the state service even as the government asserted that the examination will be conducted tomorrow (Sept 5) as per schedule.

The Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) issued the first notification in 2008 for filling up 198 Group-1 posts in various departments and a supplementary notification in July 2009, but the demand for putting the examination off was raised by Telangana activists only last week.

People of Andhra-Rayalaseema regions, however, took strong exception to the demand and wanted the government to conduct the examination as per schedule.

The Group-1 examination was originally scheduled to be held on August 29 but was postponed to September 5 as it clashed with the probationary officers examination of Syndicate Bank.

APPSC chairman Y Venkatarami Reddy said here today that there was no question of postponing the Group-1 examination as all necessary arrangements have been made.

"There is no room for any doubt over the conduct of the examination.It will be held as per schedule," he asserted.

Of the 1.90 lakh candidates who applied for the examination, 1.30 lakh have already downloaded their admit cards from the APPSC's website, Reddy said.

The main demand of the Telangana activists now, who remained silent all these months, is that the APPSC reserve 42 per cent of posts for people of Telangana.

The issue has once again divided the two main parties Congress and Telugu Desam on regional lines with leaders taking divergent stands on the conduct of Group-1 examination.

Ministers from Telangana like Komatireddy Venkata Reddy and D Sridhar Babu have already petitioned Chief Minister K Rosaiah for postponing the exam till their region's "rightful quota" was earmarked.

"It's not proper to conduct such a crucial examination in a surcharged atmosphere," Sridhar Babu said.

Congress MPs and MLAs hailing from Telangana too are exerting pressure on the Chief Minister to get the exam postponed.

Congress Central Working Committee member G Venkata Swamy is understood to have spoken to Rosaiah over phone to raise the demand for putting off the exam.

TDP's Telangana Forum convenor Nagam Janardhana Reddy, Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K Chandrasekhar Rao and the so-called Joint Action Committees of Telangana too have raised a similar demand and wanted the government to give the region its due share in Group-1 posts.

This led to strong protests from people and leaders of Andhra-Rayalaseema regions who strongly denounced the "strong-arm tactics" of the Telangana activists.

"The careers of lakhs of aspirants should not be jeopardized for narrow political gains. Each candidate prepares for months to take the examination and if it is postponed for frivolous reasons, it will strongly affect the candidates," Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal observed.

TDP's senior MLA from Rayalaseema Payyavula Kesav and others too strongly opposed the demand for postponing the exam.

Meanwhile, students in Telangana took to streets demanding postponement of the exam while their counterparts in Andhra-Rayalaseema organised counter protests favouring conduct of the test as scheduled.

The Telangana activists also forced closure of educational institutions in the region today while a bandh has been called for tomorrow.

State Director General of Police K Aravinda Rao announced that prohibitory orders under Section 144 Cr P C and also Section 30 of Police Act would be in place in the vicinity of all the 445 examination centres across the state tomorrow.

The entire examination process would be videographed and trouble-makers would be sternly dealt with.

we want our telangana quota 42% in group 1

The Osmania University Joint Action Committee and Telangana Political Joint Action Committee, on Wednesday, demanded that the state government direct the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission to postpone the Group I examinations scheduled to be held on September 5, till the government decides on the issue of 40% quota in recruitments for Telangana candidates.

Talking to media persons, the JAC members stated that without clarifying its stand on the quota issue, the APPSC could not go ahead with conducting the Group-1 examination.

The JAC leaders said that since the APPSC has refused to postpone the scheduled date of September 5, a meeting was called at the Osmania University to chalk out the future course of action on the quota demand.

The APPSC should implement reservation for all communities from the stage of the preliminary examination itself, on the lines of UPSC, they asserted.

The JAC members declared that they would hold a candlelight vigil at all Telangana educational institutions on September 3.

They threatened that the government would be held responsible for any dire consequences that take place in the state in this regard. The members also demanded the removal of APPSC chairman Venkataram Reddy as many corruption charges were pending against him. Widespread protests were witnessed across Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh on Saturday as students boycotted classes in various colleges and universities and took to the streets demanding that the State government postpone the State Public Service Commission preliminary examination scheduled for tomorrow.
Students under the banner of Osmania University Students Joint Action Committee (OUJAC) met State Home Minister P Sabita Indra Reddy and appealed to her to prevail upon the government to postpone the Group-I exams, demanding their share of 42 per cent reservation.
Tension prevailed at the Osmania University campus here as a group of students climbed the Arts College building and threatened to jump if the government did not immediately concede to their demand.
OU Vice-Chancellor T Tirupati Rao reached the spot to pacify the agitated students and make them call off their protest.

JAI TELANGANA MOVEMENT OF 1969

• Jai Telangana Movement of 1969
POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS BACK THEN
After Nehru’s death, Smt. Indira Gandhi, in her father’s footsteps, became a staunch champion of socialism. Mrs. Gandhi’s socialist economics were pushing the country deeper and deeper into poverty. Politicians were clueless about why the economy was floundering despite their best intentions. Nizam Telangana economy suffered along with the rest of the country. Poverty in the region created an ideal environment to incite people against each other.
Ever since the formation of the Andhra Pradesh state, there have been occasional rumblings of dissatisfaction by the disgruntled Nizam Telangana leaders who failed in their demand for a separate state in 1956. The Nizam Telangana leaders had two main grievances: the first one related to employment in government services, and the second one involved using the balance of funds from the Telangana region.
JOBS, WATER & FUNDS
According to the gentle men’s agreement, jobs in the Telangana region were reserved for locals. Ironically, Nizam Telangana leaders violated this agreement in certain instances, and often for good reasons. For example, when teachers were not available in the Nizam Telangana region, they were hired from other regions. The local Telangana leaders running the zilla parishads made these hiring decisions. There were violations in other government departments, and these violations happened in all ministries, including under the very eyes of the Nizam Telangana ministers
According to the then Deputy Chief Minister J. V. Narasinga Rao, hailing from Nizam Telangana, there were 107,000 non-gazetted employees in the Nizam Telangana region in 1969. Out of these, about 4.5% were nonmulkis 1,600 were teachers, 1,800 were nurses, 400 were stenographers, and the remaining few came from other departments.
The second major issue was the balance of funds. In Circar districts, alcohol was banned; as a result, there was no excise revenue. That was not the case in Nizam Telangana districts, which generated significant excise revenue on alcohol sales. Consequently, the government received more revenues from the Nizam Telangana region than from the rest of the state. The gentle men’s agreement stipulated that the excess revenue should be invested in the Nizam Telangana region for economic stimulation. The government failed to fulfill this clause effectively. All party Telangana legislatures determined the balance of funds to be 33 crores. Undoubtedly, a significant sum in those days, but it was accrued over 15 years. The state government agreed to resolve the issue of balance of funds. Based on all party legislatures’ demands, the government planned to spend 33 crores in the early part of the fourth five-year plan.
With that background, let us now delve into the bloody fight for the separate Telangana state that was fought for less than 5,000 non-mulki jobs. In other words, the issue affected a minuscule 0.033% of the approximately 1.5 crore people living in the Nizam Telangana region.
BIRTH OF MOVEMENTS AND PLAYERS
There were two major people movements between 1968 and 1973— the first one was Jai Telangana, and Jai Andhra followed it. With these movements, Telugu politicians reached the lowest depths of opportunism and demagoguery. This must be one of the darkest chapters of our modern Telugu history.
There were three main players in this tragic story. Dr. Marri Chenna Reddy, a prominent leader at the time of state formation. In 1956, he was an integrationist who supported Vishalandhra. However, when he realized that Nehru was against an integrated state, Chenna Reddy quickly changed colors and became a separatist and a proponent of a Telangana state. Chenna Reddy later advocated a bilingual state of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. His changing position on the separate state issue is ample evidence of his opportunism and lack of conviction. After the formation of the state of Andhra Pradesh, Dr. Chenna Reddy went on to become the central minister of steel in the Congress government.
In 1968, the High Court nullified Chenna Reddy’s election, and the Supreme Court upheld the decision. He was found guilty of using religion as a platform for his election campaigning. As a result, Chenna Reddy was forced out of power, and he had to stay out of public office for six years. Chenna Reddy made the Telangana movement his fulltime job, puppeteering the student movement for a separate state from behind the scenes. Once the movement caught on people’s imagination, he burst onto the separatist movement scene as its leader.
The second important player was the Deputy Chief Minister B. V. Subba Reddy, a staunch integrationist who later went on to lead the bloody Jai Andhra movement. As deputy chief minister, he, along with Chief Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao, took out full-page newspaper advertisements promoting peace and urging people to stay calm during the Telangana movement. His position changed when the Jai Andhra movement took off. He became the fiery leader representing Kosta, and he was blamed for large-scale violence occurring in the region.
The last player in the tragic saga of separate state movement was Smt. Indira Gandhi. Unlike Chenna Reddy and Subba Reddy, Smt. Gandhi is the unintentional hero of our story. She ( though not out of trying to the real cause, but…) single-handedly saved Telugus from disintegrating. She understood the legacy of Telugu glory, though her ulterior motive was to preserve national integrity. If it were not for her iron will, our state and Telugu people would have been torn apart into pieces long ago. When it came to toughness, Indira Gandhi was unlike her father Nehru. She displayed an uncanny ability to understand the separatist leaders’ psychology. She adamantly refused to give in, even when leaders threatened her with violence in the region and made good on their words. She did not flinch when the Nizam Telangana and Kosta regions erupted like a volcano. In the end, she walked away with getting what she wanted and did not give up an inch of her territory. ( Telugus believing in the unity of our race owe her a great deal. If there had been any other leader at the helm during that time, today, the so-called integrated state of Andhra Pradesh would be confined to history books. )
Let us now walk through the separate state movements occurring from 1968–1973.
The gentlemen’s agreement coming into effect at the time of state formation had now been in effect for 15 years and was ending. As a result, the term of the Telangana Regional Council, overseeing development in the region, was also ending. The regional council created to oversee development in Nizam Telangana, failed in ensuring that excess revenue from Telangana would be spent locally. During the 15 years of its existence, the regional council, whose members were ministers, MPs, and MLAs from Nizam Telangana, never once objected to the government misspending.
The Telangana legislative members of all parties woke up from their slumber in February 1968 and demanded that the balance of funds from Telangana be invested in the region. These members also demanded removal of the ban on alcohol sales in the Andhra region, which was ineffective anyway. In addition, they demanded extending the term of the Telangana Regional Council by another five years. Political parties and their leaders did not object to any of these reasonable demands.
The Telangana Regional Council and the state government estimated that about 33 crore rupees (difference between income and expenditure) in the Telangana balance of funds have accumulated since the state’s formation. Responding to the legislators’ demand, the state government agreed to spend the balance of funds in the early part of the fourth five-year plan.
An insignificant event in 1969 acted as a trigger for a massive student uprising in Nizam Telangana. On January 8, 1969, a student named Ravindranath started an indefinite hunger strike in Khammam demanding protection for Telangana. It is unclear what motivated him, but this was mostly a localized protest. Five days into the strike, students in Khammam ransacked some government offices and burned the road transportation corporation (RTC) buses. Students in Warangal also organized protests in solidarity with their fellow students in Khammam.
On January 12, 1968, the Osmania University Student Union held an extraordinary meeting to assess the situation in the districts where students were protesting. The union expressed its profound dissatisfaction with the political leadership from the region and demanded the resignation of MLAs and nine cabinet ministers from the Telangana region. In addition, they laid out a set of demands:
= Release the 70-crore balance of Telangana funds ( it is unclear how the 33 crores that even the Telangana Regional Council agreed as the balance of funds became 70 crores )
= Create a separate five-year plan for Telangana including the balance of funds from the region
= Complete the Pochampad Project on a priority basis (Pochampad is the current Sriram Sagar Project
= Strictly implement Mulki rules
= Extend special protections to Telangana by another 10 years
= Give Telangana graduates local jobs and transfer non-locals immediately
= Establish teacher training institutes in all the Telangana districts
= Have the Andhra and Telangana regions bear expenses incurred on all the government buildings in the capital city in a 2:1 ratio.
The students announced that, unless the government met these demands, they intended to go on an indefinite strike starting January 15, 1969. The student demands went up in number and size when compared to the original demands of the all-party Telangana leaders.
START OF THE BUNDHS
As announced, students across the twin cities boycotted classes on January 15. They headed to the Nizam College grounds for a meeting. Two groups emerged among the students: one group demanded protections for Telangana whereas another group demanded a separate state for Telangana. During the debate, the group demanding a separate Telangana state clearly had an upper hand. After the meeting was over, President of the Osmania University Students Association Mallikarjun led a student rally from the Nizam college grounds to the Abids Circle. Despite heavy police security, there were stray incidents of students throwing stones at city buses.
Student Ravindranath who lit the Telangana forest fire in Khammam was still on fast, and his health continued to deteriorate. In solidarity, students intensified their protests. Kodada is a Nizam Telangana town on the Coastal Andhra border. Agitators stopped the buses going from Kodada to the Kosta districts, stranding 500 passengers.
As days passed, the student movement gradually turned violent. Two student groups, one demanding a separate state, another demanding special protection for the region, staged rallies in the city. Students blocked the gates of the Secretariat for 90 minutes. In Khammam, students resorted to throwing stones and damaged many Road Transportation Corporation (R.T.C.) buses. They also attacked the telephone and telegraph offices and destroyed the communication infrastructure. Because of the violence, the R.T.C halted bus services between the Telangana and Andhra regions.
CM Sri Kasu Brahmananda Reddy urged people not to be misled by the separatist slogans. He said that, with the limited resources it has, the government was doing everything in its power to develop backward regions of the state. He reminded people that, out of 165 villages electrified in the state, 85 of them were in Mahaboob Nagar alone.
The Employee Union leaders concerned with politicians dragging their issues into the controversy signed a statement requesting their members not to act in a way that hurts the cordial relations existing among employees. They also stated that in the Telangana protections debate, it was unfortunate that the issues of state employees came up. They stated that the employee union needed to address these things. The A.P. Non-Gazetted Officers (N.G.O.) Union President Sri A. Sriramulu, Telangana N.G.O. Union President Sri K. R. Amos, Secretariat Employees Association President Sri P. Satya Moorthi, and the Teachers Union President Sri Rama Brahmam and others signed this statement.
During the early part of the separate state movement, government employees resented politicians and students using their issues. However, that changed quickly. Amos, a main signatory of the Employee Union resolution, who urged employees not to get involved in separate state politics, became a firebrand leader of the separate Telangana movement.
Student protests continued to rock the capital city. Both the student unions—one demanding a separate state and the other demanding protections for Telangana—marched on the city. Police tried to keep the path of these marches away from each other. Despite their best efforts, the marches crossed paths at the Abids center. In the ensuing clash, students attacked each other with sticks and stones. They threw stones at the R.T.C. buses passing by and at the street lights, and then resorted to throwing stones at the shop windows in the Abids center. Police lathi-charged and fired teargas while eight students and a few police officers were injured.
Chief Minister Brahmananda Reddy started realizing that he needed to deal with the problem more aggressively. He called for a meeting of all the political parties to find a solution to the student movement. Forty-five members of all the major political parties operating in the state met and held a 10-hour marathon meeting. They reached an agreement that addressed the issues raised by the students. The agreement assured the people of strict enforcement of the gentlemen’s agreement. In addition to that, the agreement stated the following:
Andhra employees in the jobs reserved for Telangana locals will be immediately removed and provided alternate employment in the Andhra region.
Mulki rules will be extended by another year, and corporations, such as R.T.C. and the Electricity Board funded by the state government, will be brought under the purview of Mulki rules.
An executive appointed by the auditor general of India will determine the extent of Telangana’s balance of funds.
Given this agreement, which all the political parties accepted, the CM urged students to end their stir and help restore peace in the state. Student leader Mallikarjunn met with his organization’s members and announced that they would continue their agitation because they were dissatisfied with the all- party agreement. He said that the agreement did not address the injustices done to Telangana, as it merely repeated the gentlemen’s agreement. He protested the policy of giving access to educational facilities in Hyderabad to people of all the regions. He then raised frivolous issues such as the government not doing anything about grants to Osmania University.
The Student Union, under Mallikarjun’s leadership, resolved to continue their agitation and boycott the classes. Mallikarjun urged all thestudents to come to the Nizam College grounds for a meeting on the following day at 11 a.m.
The students’ stance exasperated CM Brahmananda Reddy, especially after he spent so much of his political capital to get all the political parties and public representatives to agree to a deal. He probably felt that it was time to get tough with the students. The government imposed a ban on all public meetings and processions in the twin cities for the next six days and instructed law enforcement officials to implement the ban strictly.
FROM COLLEGES TO SCHOOLS
Telangana fever at this point spread to primary and secondary schools in the region. For instance, students from Shamshabad’s primary and secondary schools, after completing the school prayer, boycotted their classes. They then headed to a local Umda Nagar railway station, threw stones at the station office, and damaged the windows. The school kids then proceeded to stop traffic. They did not allow the vehicles to move until 2 p.m. in the afternoon, causing a major traffic jam in the area. Police eventually decided to intervene to remove the blockade. Students welcomed them by pelting stones. Police retaliated by lathi-charging first, and then opened fire, injuring some students. All the students injured were between 11 and 16, while two students, aged 12 and 14, were admitted to the hospital in critical condition.
As violence spread across the region, student union leaders met the CM. The never-ending list of demands the students put forth continued to grow. The new set of demands included raising the age limit for job applicants from the Nizam Telangana region from 25 to 27 and a demand for a post- graduate center at the Gandhi Medical College.
The following day, the student union came up with one more demand. This time, the union leaders wanted to open new medical colleges in the Telangana region to match the numbers in the coastal districts. The CM, exasperated with the ever-growing list of demands and unabated violence, announced the closure of all educational institutions until January 27, 1969.
In the interim, he did not waste any time implementing the all-party agreement, as he feared the student union would take advantage of the issue.
On January 22, 1969, the state government issued a Government Order (G.O.) to remove all the non-Mulkis from their current positions and set a deadline of February 28, 1969. All the department heads were required to certify by March 7 that all non-Mulkis had been removed. The government threatened action against department heads who did not comply with the G.O.
On the state government’s request, the comptroller and the auditor general of India agreed to send a senior executive to determine the Telangana balance of funds. The state government also announced that it was extending Mulki rules to the Electricity Department, as the government funded it.
MODERATES AND INTENSIVISTS OF THE MOVEMENT
Student Ravindhranath of Khammam, the original source for the inferno spreading across the region, decided to end his 15-day fast based on the assurances the government and the opposition leaders gave. However, it was already too late for him to stop what he started.
Readers might recall that there were two student unions: one demanding protections for the Telangana region and another demanding a separate state. The student union demanding protections for the Telangana region met the CM. Brahmananda Reddy, not wanting to let the situation get completely out of hand, conceded to the students’ demand for increasing the age limit of the job applicants from Nizam Telangana to 27. With that assurance, this student group announced that they were ending their strike.
However, Osmania University Student Union leader Mallikarjun announced that their strike would continue until a separate Telangana state was achieved. At this point, it was an open secret that politicians from behind the scenes were managing the student union leaders.
As the CM continued to concede to the Telangana students’ demands, students from Andhra and Venkateswara Universities were alarmed. Seeing the effectiveness of the pressure tactics of their peers in the Nizam Telangana region, they jumped into the fray, claiming that the government had failed to protect the properties and lives of the Andhra people living in the Nizam Telangana region and gave a call for a boycott until February 10, 1969.
VIOLENCE , MORE VIOLENCE AND COUNTER VIOLENCE
The following day, on January 25, 1969, violence erupted across the Andhra region. Students attacked a sub-inspector’s residence in Sadasivapeta. When police opened fire, several students were injured. They all were between 17 and 22. Two youngsters, 17 and 18, were critically injured.
Violence at this point caught on like wildfire. People were attacking each other across the Andhra and Telangana regions, including Ellandhu, Karaypalli, Kothagudem, Bhadrachalam, Ashwaraopeta, Dhaamapeta, Nirmal, Bhimavaram, Manchiryala, Karimnagar, Medak, Suryapeta, and many more places.
Student leader Mallikarjun was taken aback at the scale of violence. He probably did not realize the power of his vitriol to incite people to commit violent acts. A day after widespread violence across the state, Mallikarjun called off the students’ strike. While ending the strike, he expressed sadness at the protests organized by the Andhra and Venkateswara University students.
However, Mallikarjun’s decision to end the strike was a little too late. The wildfire had been lit, and it was now unstoppable and had engulfed the entire state.
In the Andhra region, agitators stopped trains in Bapatla, Bhimavaram, Undi, Aravalli, and Tanuku. In Nandigama, police opened fire when the mob turned violent. Eight hundred students attacked a police station near the Nagarjuna Sagar right canal, and police opened fire, killing one student. An eighth-grade student, Shankar, injured in the Sadasivapeta firing, succumbed to his injuries. Shocked by the levels of violence, all activist groups in Telangana called off their strikes.
Despite it, violence continued unabated. In Warangal, an electric parts shop, two auto spares shops, a general store, and two hotels belonging to Kosta people were set on fire. In addition, a trader’s store was looted and another store of the same trader, hailing from Kosta, was burned down. Hooligans entered a low-income neighborhood, beat up two post-graduate students from Kosta, and threatened other residents from Kosta districts to leave. In Kothur, two houses were set on fire. In Karimabad, mobs looted a rice mill and burned a car and a lorry. In Nalgonda, Deputy Surveyor Sri Rangacharyulu, hailing from the Coastal Andhra region, was set on fire with petrol, and he died of his burn injuries. In Gajwel town, high school students processed to the Block Development officer’s house to warn him to leave the town, as he was a non-local. When students resorted to throwing stones, police opened fire, and a 12-year-old 7th grade student Narasimhulu died.
Border towns on Andhra resorted to retaliation as well. From the Andhra border town of Nandigama, many lorries filled with people and weapons headed to attack the Telangana border town of Kodada. Police tried to stop the vehicles. When the lorries failed to stop, they opened fire, injuring two persons. However, a few lorries managed to get past the police barricade. God only knows what violent acts were committed as a free flow of news was not there.
In another example of hatred gone amok, in Nalgonda, two men went to the house of L.D.C. Chandriah and asked him to come out. They poured kerosene on him and set him on fire. The miscreants thought that Chandriah was from Coastal Andhra. However, what they did not realize was that he was from the Telangana heartland, Warangal.
Coastal Andhra people living in the Nizam Telangana region left the towns and villages and sought the safety of their native places. Student leader Mallikarjun announced the end of even the relay hunger strikes going on at the Osmania University campus and said that Andhra people have a right to live in Telangana and vice versa. People ignored all these calls. Their minds had already been poisoned.
The living icon of the erstwhile separate Telangana movement, Konda Lakshman, in January 1969, while condemning hate speeches, chastised the leaders for grossly exaggerating a few stray events to incite people against other regions. He further assured people that he would strictly implement the all-party agreement. He announced that he was cancelling all his travel plans and urged concerned citizens to meet him personally.
Because of unabated violence, Chief Minister Brahmananda Reddy called the army into the state. However, the Indian Army could not control the violence. He then requested Central Reserve Police Force (C.R.P.F.) reinforcements, and that turned out insufficient to quell the violence as well. He then called the police from the neighboring state of Mysore (Karnataka), and even that had limited success. Eventually, 40 days of non-stop violence that started on January 8, 1969, took a reprieve in late February. Taking advantage of the situation, the government announced that it would reopen the schools.
FROM THE PAN IN TO THE FIRE
On February 17, 1969, the Supreme Court issued a stay order on all the removing of non-Mulki employees, putting the entire Mulki issue in limbo.
It was an open secret that politicians were coordinating the ongoing agitation from behind the scenes. This group of politicians was a coterie formed against CM Brahmananda Reddy’s rule. For the first time, these leaders started to emerge into the open.
On February 20, 1969, the octogenarian politician K. V. Ranga Reddy, father-in-law of Dr. Marri Chenna Reddy, after whom Ranga Reddy district was later named, stated that if the central government failed to implement the recent agreements, he would be forced to start the satyagraham. While referring to the reduced levels of violence in the last week, he made a veiled threat and said there was a peaceful environment in the state now; this could be a temporary state unless the CM took actions ensuring peace in the state. Through that statement, Ranga Reddy was not only hinting at his group’s ability to ratchet up violence in the state, but was also establishing his complicity in the violence that had happened in the past few weeks. It was widely known that Marri Chenna Reddy was using his senile father-in-law K. V. Ranga Reddy as his proxy.
Ranga Reddy announced that he would be making himself available to all the political leaders and students for discussions on the 26th and 27th of February 1969 between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. He said that a plan would be charted out after these discussions.
It is unknown what plan was schemed at these meetings, but the color of the Telangana movement changed from that point on. Politicians singing the integration tune changed their positions overnight to become separatists. Not only that, but if the violence across the region was bad so far, it became worse. Leaders operating from behind the scenes openly emerged on the public stage. These leaders, without an iota of shame, used students, including young children, to achieve their selfish goals.
On March 6, 1969, the Supreme Court confirmed its stay on the transfer of non-Mulki employees. It went a step further and blocked the creation of super-numerary positions. This effectively tied down the hands of the CM Brahmananda Reddy, who was under pressure to implement the Telangana protections.
Now a full three months into the movement, 52 MLAs from Telangana served an ultimatum to the CM that unless he took actions toward implementing protections to the Telangana region by March 16, the MLAs would not participate in the Assembly sessions, and the ministers from the region would resign from the cabinet. These MLAs knew very well that there was a Supreme Court stay on non-Mulki transfers and that the CM could not fulfill their demands.
CHANGED POLITICAL EQUATIONS: TWISTS AND TURNS
Student leader Mallikarjun re-emerged on the stage with renewed energy. There can be no doubt that the top political brass of Nizam Telangana reinjected him into the separate state politics. Mallikarjun, who a few weeks ago seemed shocked by the violent consequences of his seemingly insignificant actions, now seemed more comfortable with his newfound power. His first step was to give a call for bandh across the Telangana region, effectively bringing the students back into the violent movement. The bandh was successful, except for the districts of Khammam and Nizamabad. Congress Party leaders behind the students’ movement continued to emerge, one after the other, from backstage.
Former Minister Smt. T. N. Sadaalakshmi presided over a meeting with 1,500 student leaders from all the Nizam Telangana districts. The delegates, under the guidance of Sadaalakshmi, met for six hours. At the meeting’s end, they released a statement, saying that the students of all nine districts would not go to classes until the formation of the Telangana state. They then passed a resolution demanding the resignation of all the Telangana ministers and MLAs. Later, in a meeting held at the Reddy hostel, 30,000 people participated and took an oath not to rest until they achieve a Telangana state.
Sadly, leaders such as Sadaalakshmi and many others were personally overseeing the destruction of students’ futures by helping them organize the college boycotts and sending them into the streets to protest, which often turned violent. What the innocent students, sacrificing everything they had for the crooked politicians, did not know was that they would be cheated and left in the cold as soon as the opportunistic politicians’ ulterior motives were met.
Universities fearing violence announced closure of colleges until the end of summer holidays and indefinitely postponed exams. As a result, students were on their way to losing their entire academic year.
CM Kasu Brahmananda Reddy, still hoping to defuse the crisis, busied himself with fulfilling other items in the all-party agreement not constrained by the Supreme Court stay.
One major point of contention was the balance of funds—that is, additional tax revenue obtained from the Telangana region over its fair share to the state exchequer. On the state government’s request, the Auditor General of India appointed a senior official, Sri Lalith Kumar, to assess the balance of funds issue. Sri Lalith Kumar submitted his report on March 14, 1969, and determined that the balance of funds between November 1, 1956, when the integrated state was formed, and March 31, 1968, was Rs. 34 crores and 10 lakhs.
Telangana leaders disagreed with the auditor general of India’s assessment. They claimed this time that the balance of funds was 107.13 crores. The Telangana Regional Council approved this number. This was the same council that a few months ago determined that the balance of funds were 33 crores. Minister Konda Lakshman, for his part, claimed that the balance of funds was 82 crores. He also proposed a new model of administration for Telangana. He suggested a self-governing authority for the region, while continuing to exist as a united state. Konda Lakshman along with Sri Chokka Rao took this proposal to the PM but failed to impress it upon her.
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi called for a high-level meeting to discuss the Telangana issue, and she precisely knew whom to invite to the meeting—Dr. Chenna Reddy. It is worth noting that Dr. Reddy still was not publicly supporting the separate state movement and was, on paper, an integrationist.
In addition to Dr. Marri Chenna Reddy, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi held extensive discussions with the state and central leaders, including Home Minister Chavan, Congress Party President Nijalingappa, Kaachuraj, Sanjeevaiah, Central Minister Kotha Raghuramaiah, CM Brahmananda Reddy, Andhra Pradesh Congress President Kakani Venkataratnam, Minister V. B. Raju, Nookala Ramachandra Reddy, and Chokka Rao. At the end of these extensive discussions, the prime minister proposed an 8-point formula to resolve the ongoing crisis.
Dr. Chenna Reddy and the other Telangana leaders participating in the discussions expressed their disappointment with the outcome. They complained that the regional council did not have the constitutional authority to implement planning, development, and employment and that the PM had not invited the leaders, Achyutha Reddy and Konda Lakshman.
For the next round of discussions, Prime Minister Gandhi invited all the prominent Telangana leaders, including Konda Lakshman, K. V. Ranga Reddy, Jalagam Vengal Rao, and C. H. Vidya Sagar Rao, for talks. They all declined the invitation. K. V. Ranga Reddy went a step further and suggested that the PM should come to A.P. to assess the situation personally. Though Ranga Reddy said it politely, he was trying to show off his position of strength by asking the PM to come to the state, instead of his going to Delhi.
K. V. Ranga Reddy committed a political blunder. With his extensive political experience, it is surprising that he did not realize that he was dealing with a woman who did not like to be muscled around. The tough position taken by the Telangana leaders made Smt. Gandhi even more resolute.
Meanwhile, the Telangana Regional Congress Committee met in Gandhi Bhavan. During the two days of discussions, Dr. Chenna Reddy argued for a Telangana state, and P. V. Narasimha Rao argued for an integrated state while admitting that the government made some mistakes that affected the Nizam Telangana region. Rao said that the separatists had exaggerated these mistakes to such a point that they sounded absurd. Alluding to Chenna Reddy’s role in dragging the students into the movement, Rao warned that the leaders were taking the students down a wrong path. P. V. Narasimha Rao remained a staunch integrationist throughout the movement and never flinched, even when the public mood was overwhelmingly for separation.
Dr. Chenna Reddy who was running the Telangana Praja Samithi (TPS) from behind the screens now came out in the open, became its president, and announced his support for a separate Telangana state. His home became a hub for political activity. Thirty Congress Party legislators met at his place to discuss their plan. Chenna Reddy threatened to launch, in a few days, a “powerful movement that would paralyze the entire administration in Telangana.” The leaders’ language turned highly provocative with open threats of violence. Chenna Reddy warned the Coastal Andhra employees in the Telangana districts that unless they behave as servants of the Telangana people, very serious consequences would follow.
Telangana NGO leader K. R. Amos, who mere weeks before had been concerned about politicians dragging employees into the controversy, was now in bed with the Telangana separatists. He raged that unless India’s government announced the formation of the Telangana state before June 15, 1969, there would be “bloodshed and destruction.”
Chenna Reddy’s TPS called for a region wide bandh on June 3. The events following the bandh seemed as if the leaders of the movement wanted to prove it to the state and central government that they were not making empty threats of violence. As its leaders promised, the Nizam Telangana region erupted like a volcano on June 3, 1969.
THE SHOW OFF
Telangana separatists attacked public and private properties with vengeance. Capital city Hyderabad looked like a war zone. There was collateral damage to many businesses and stores. The fire department attended at least 85 incidents of arson. Thirty-eight people were injured in police firing, including six dead that included a young girl. Stray bullets fired by the police as they were clashing with the separatists hit four members of a family sitting in the living room of their home. TPS activists set the Durga Vilas Hotel in Abids on fire after the hotel employees lynched an 18-year-old protestor who tried to force the hotel’s closure.
Skirmishes between the protestors and the police went on until 10 p.m. in the capital city. As things got out of control, the state government called the Indian Army in and clamped curfew on the city for 33 hours. After four days of non-stop violence, 30 people were dead, and life in the capital city of Hyderabad came to a standstill.
TPS President Chenna Reddy, now openly using students for his political means, demanded that the government postpone the final exams. If the government proceeded to conduct the exams, he threatened that he would call for another bandh, which by now everyone knew was synonymous to large-scale violence.
India’s Home Minster Chavan abruptly ended his trip to Maharashtra and headed back to Delhi to assess the situation in Andhra Pradesh. CM Brahmananda Reddy also headed to Delhi for consultations with PM Gandhi. At the end of their huddle, PM Gandhi released a statement that the government would not yield to violence.
Chenna Reddy, for the first time, hinted the real motivation behind his support to the Telangana movement. He announced that he was willing to pause the Telangana movement if the president’s rule was imposed in the state—in other words, if CM Brahmananda Reddy was removed from power. He also set that as a precondition for any talks with the Center.
The state government got tough with the leaders of the movement and started arresting them. “Those arrested included the Mayor of Hyderabad Smt. Kumud Nayak, the wife of Dr. Chenna Reddy, Smt. Saavitri Devi, and the wife of the Vice Chancellor of Osmania University Smt. J. Eshwaribhai.
When taken to court, the judge sentenced them to seven days of jail time. Police also arrested prominent leaders of the movement—Chenna Reddy, Konda Lakshman, Achyuth Reddy, T. Anjaiah, and Maanik Rao—under the Preventive Detention Act.
Ministers from Telangana, resenting the government’s tough stand against separatists, resigned from the state cabinet. A seemingly distraught Kasu Brahmananda Reddy announced that he was also resigning and sent his resignation to the Congress President Nijalingappa. However, his resignation was not accepted.
A group of Osmania Unversity students demanded reopening of the colleges. They blocked the vice chancellor’s car as he was on his way to the office and vented that, while the American university professors were sending their students to the moon (referring to Neil Armstrong’s recent landing on the moon), our professors were busy with politics and sending us into the streets.
CM Brahmananda Reddy continued to give sops to the Telangana region. He announced a plan to build a fertilizer factory in Ramagundam with 60 crores investment. He allocated more funds to the Pochampad Project for its speedy completion. None of these actions could stem the violence across the state.
Twenty-five-year-old Sriram Chandar and ten-year-old Dasthagir died in police firing when they gate crashed into a felicitation ceremony organized for the Home Minister Jalagam Vengal Rao in his native district of Khammam. In another incident in Secunderabad, an eighteen-year-old Ravinder was killed when the satyagraha movement got out of control.
LOBBY TIME
On August 23, 1969, a full eight months into the movement, the tough Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi said she would only intervene to find a solution if the leaders for a separate state ended the agitation and peace reigned in the state. As a conciliatory gesture to make way for the peace process, CM Brahmananda Reddy released the TPS leaders from the jails.
Upon his release, Chenna Reddy went to Delhi for discussions and made a statement that TPS would end the stir if the CM was changed. However, on his return to Hyderabad, he distanced himself from the news reports and said that the creation of a separate state was the only solution, setting September 1, 1969 as the deadline. The date came and went. Violence in the state started to recede gradually.There were stray incidents of violence such as pelting stones at buses.
The crescendo for the resignation of the Chief Minister Kasu Brahmananda Reddy was building. Telangana legislators gathered 50 signatures of their peers and planned to collect 36 more and send their petition to the Congress Party President Nijalingappa.
It had been nine months since the students of the region left their classrooms, and most of them lost an academic year. Those in the final year of schools and colleges were particularly hard hit.
On September 22, 1969, President of India Sri V. V. Giri was on a state visit to Andhra Pradesh. TPS was already taking much heat for playing with student’s lives by involving them in a political movement. On the eve of the president’s visit, TPS and the Students’ Union gave a call for all the students to return to their classes. Student leader Mallikarjun said that the union had decided to ensure that the movement did not affect the students’ education. After ruining an entire academic year, student leader Mallikarjun realized that he needed to protect the students’ futures.
Chenna Reddy personally visited President V. V. Giri and gave him the news that the students were returning to classes. President Giri was elated and assured Chenna Reddy that he would do his best for a speedy resolution of the crisis.
The government continued to give sops to the Telangana region in an effort to win over the people’s hearts. Education Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao announced that the government would open 10 more junior colleges in the Nizam Telangana region. In the fourth five-year plan, the state government earmarked 45 crore rupees for Telangana, including 28 crores of the balance of funds. The government also announced that it would spend 38% of the state’s total development budget on Telangana. In addition, CM Brahmananda Reddy agreed to increase Telangana’s share of the budget to 42% for the next two years. The government, for the first time, released water to 40,000 acres under the Pochampad Project. It further announced special subsidies to industries coming in six districts of Nizam Telangana and two districts of Rayalaseema. These subsidies included 7.5% interest on industrial loans and a choice to pay the first installment after five years from the time the enterprise raises the loan.
TPS got an opportunity to test its mettle in the electoral waters. In the by- election necessitated by the death of the candidate in the Khairatabad constituency, TPS presented its candidate. TPS candidate Nagam Krishna Rao won with a landslide majority. Encouraged by this success, TPS, on July 23, 1969, decided to become a political party. Three months later, in the Siddipeta re-election, the TPS candidate again won with a landslide majority of 20,000 votes.
On December 10, 1970, the A. P. High Court passed a judgment, reversing its prior verdict, that the Mulki rules are legal. CM Brahmananda Reddy promptly announced that he would implement the Mulki rules in compliance with the high court’s judgment.
Around this time, the political scene at the center was changing rapidly. Indira Gandhi and her young cohort’s aggressive adoption of socialism put Gandhi at odds with the older generation leaders that believed in a more moderate approach. Smt. Gandhi’s bank nationalization turned out to be the last straw. The Congress Party split in two, and Gandhi did not have the majority in the Parliament to continue as the PM. As a result, the Loksabha mid-term elections were around the corner. To strengthen her position for the upcoming elections, Mrs. Gandhi expressed renewed interest to resolve the Telangana crisis.
By winning two by-elections with a landslide margin, Chenna Reddy succeeded in sending a message to the PM that he was a force to reckon with. On January 1, 1971, PM Gandhi, CM Brahmananda Reddy, and TPS leader Chenna Reddy met face-to-face for 90 minutes. It became clear during the discussions that state division was not acceptable to the PM, and she did not want TPS to contest the elections by themselves.
Indira Gandhi therefore made an offer that was by far the most she had ever offered since the agitation for Telangana started. She offered Chenna Reddy the following:
TPS should not contest the Congress Party in the Loksabha elections.
Allow five years of time until 1977 for the eight-point formula to affect the region.
In the year 1977, if two-thirds of the Nizam Telangana legislators supported separation, the center would agree to the formation of the Telangana state.
The third point in her offer was the most crucial one and the closest she ever came to agreeing to the bifurcation of the state. However, Chenna Reddy was not interested in something that would happen five years down the road, but was interested in immediate results.
Chenna Reddy came back to Hyderabad and presented the PM’s proposal to his party. TPS members overwhelmingly rejected Indira Gandhi’s offer. As a result, a contest between the TPS and Congress in the region then became inevitable.
The decision to run against the Congress party probably was the worst political blunder Chenna Reddy committed during the separate Telangana movement. He was haughty with his successes in the by-election and thought that he could arm-twist Mrs. Gandhi by winning the elections in Telangana by a landslide. He certainly got the landslide, but he terribly miscalculated the leverage such a win would give him when negotiating with Mrs. Gandhi.
In the run-up to the elections, CM Brahmananda Reddy announced more sops to win over the Nizam Telangana voter. He announced that the Kothagudem power plant would become operational in March 1972 and started construction of another plant in Ramagundam. He announced plans to provide electricity to 1000 villages a year in the state—600 in the Telangana region, 200 in Rayalaseema, and 200 in the Coastal Andhra region.
None of the sops announced by the CM affected the Nizam Telangana voter. TPS won 10 of the 14 Parliament seats it contested in the mid-term elections.
Two months passed after the elections. Chenna Reddy did not get the recognition he was hoping to get. It gradually dawned on TPS politicians that they had been victorious electorally but defeated politically.
POLITICAL – BARGAINS
Chenna Reddy was arguably in an advantageous position after winning 10 of 14 loksabha seats that they contested. In the upcoming state assembly elections, his candidates would easily win many seats in the Nizam Telangana region.
Despite his position of strength, Chenna Reddy was now, more than ever, eager to strike a deal with Mrs. Gandhi.The reason for his angst lay in the political game of numbers.
Indira Gandhi won the mid-term elections with a huge majority and got 352 seats. She did not need the support of the 10 TPS MPs in the Parliament. In the upcoming state assembly elections, even if Chenna Reddy won 70% or more of the seats in the Telangana region, Congress was almost certain to win by a landslide in the Kosta and Rayalaseema regions—thanks to the seeds of hatred planted by the Telangana politicians. If that happened, TPS would be confined to opposition in the state assembly and would become a no-name party in the Parliament with its miniscule 10 seats.
For TPS leaders, if the Telangana state was not going to happen, they did not want to sit around wasting their time with agitations. Instead, they would rather be enjoying power in the Congress Party. Chenna Reddy and his fellow TPS followers were in an interesting quandary. They knew that they could win the elections by a landslide, yet they did not want to contest the elections on their own party platform.
In this backdrop, Chenna Reddy went to Delhi for negotiations with Prime Minister Gandhi. Several original TPS demands did not appear anymore, as they either were fulfilled or were in the process of being fulfilled.
Chenna Reddy presented a new list of demands and they were:
= Remove CM Brahmananda Reddy.
= Depending on the performance of the Telangana region over time, give Telangana legislators the power to make a decision on the separate state.
= Create a separate Pradesh Congress Committee for Telangana.
= Ensure that the Telangana Regional Council is effective.
= Eliminate the regional disparities existing between Telangana and the other regions.
Quintessential politician Indira Gandhi took full advantage of the quandary that TPS was in. She knew well that TPS was eager to merge with the Congress Party before the upcoming state assembly elections. She fulfilled one demand and one demand only. She agreed to the demand most important to Chenna Reddy and the easiest one for her to fulfill—removing CM Brahmananda Reddy from his seat. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi called CM Brahmananda Reddy to Delhi and asked him to resign in the interest of the state’s well-being. He obliged.
Chenna Reddy congratulated Brahmananda Reddy for making the right decision and thanked the PM for making it happen. Chenna Reddy said that he hoped that the PM would act equally quickly on the rest of the demands. As it turned out, that was the first and the last demand of Chenna Reddy that Indira Gandhi would ever accept.
A day after Chief Minister Brahmananda Reddy announced his resignation, Mrs. Gandhi called Chenna Reddy back to Delhi for talks. PM Gandhi and Chenna Reddy spent two days behind closed doors in marathon discussions. We might never know what kind of give-and-take political agreements were made in those meetings. Obviously, the bargaining was for political seats, particularly for MLA tickets and ministries.
POLITICAL CLIMAX: HERO TURNS VILLAIN
Chenna Reddy returned to Hyderabad and met the TPS Central Working Committee. He briefed them about his discussions with Indira Gandhi. After a mere three hours of discussions, TPS announced that they are merging with the Congress Party. The decision required the TPS State Council’s ratification.
On September 18, 1971, after nearly two years of death and mayhem over a Telangana state, the TPS State Council met to discuss their movement’s future. During the TPS State Council meeting, several members argued that the TPS should not have agreed to the merger just based on Kasu Brahmananda Reddy’s resignation. Members argued that the TPS should have insisted on the six-point formula that Chenna Reddy took to Delhi.
Council member E. V. Padmanabhan brought copies of the letter he wrote to the TPS president and distributed it to the members. In the letter, he said, Thanks to the TPS, Telangana today is in a worse state than it was prior to October 31, 1956, before the Gentlemen’s Agreement was signed. He added, “I am fortunate to have worked with you all for this great cause. You all fought bravely for a common goal. However, now, you have dumped the people of Telangana in the middle of the lake. What else can I say? Till Telangana is fortunate enough to see good days, I take leave from you all.” Former MP Baqar Ali Mirza, who resigned from the Congress Party for the Telangana cause, said that, in his 40 years of political life, he had never seen an instance where this sort of deceit was done for political positions.
The TPS State Council, after four hours of discussion, unanimously approved merging TPS with the Congress Party. Members expressed “hope” that the remaining five of the six demands put forward by the TPS would also be implemented immediately.
As the council meeting was underway, students descended on the TPS office, raised slogans against the leaders, and accused them of treason. They argued with the members who were entering the building. These students probably wanted to know why they had to sacrifice a year of their academic life.They probably wondered what purpose the deaths of 12-year-old, seventh- grade student, Narasimhulu; 10-year-old Dasthagir; 18-year-old Ravinder; eighth-grade student, Shankar; and hundreds more like them served.
STUDENTS TURN FOOLS: THE PERFECT ANTI-CLIMAX
TPS members claimed that the students were not even students but outsiders. In an ensuing scuttle, TPS members physically assaulted some students and forcibly removed some from the premises.
In the end, Chenna Reddy and his clan dissolved the separate Telangana movement based on a mere “hope” that Indira Gandhi would concede to their demands. They clearly knew that she would not fulfill their demands. Indira Gandhi did not budge when the state was going up in flames; why would she concede to their demands now.
At the end of September 1971, Congress legislators elected education minister P. V. Narasimha Rao, who hailed from the Telangana region, as their leader and made him the chief minister of the state. The new CM inducted former TPS member Achyut Reddy into the 14-member cabinet.
The tragic saga of the Telangana movement that consumed hundreds of innocent young lives, caused massive collateral damage to pubic assets, and pushed the state economically back by many years thus ended.
REMAKE OF THE MOV(IE)MENT NOW , TITLED : WHO IS THE FOOL AGAIN!!??
Now let us look at how the leaders and proponents of today’s separate state movement are distorting facts to further their agenda.
Professor Jayashankar wrote the following: The Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1956, which was an assurance of fair play given to the people of Telangana to facilitate the formation of Andhra Pradesh, was scuttled the very same day on which the state was born, by the very same Gentlemen who were signatories to the agreement.” The Vice Chancellor makes a profound statement about violating the agreement but does not clarify how.
The gentlemen’s agreement was not scuttled, and large portions of it were effectively implemented. The Telangana regional council was formed according to the agreement. During its reign, the council unanimously passed all the resolutions, and no dispute whatsoever existed with the government. In terms of ministerial appointments, all rules laid out in the agreements seem to have been met because none of the leaders raised this as an issue, even during the height of the separatist movement in 1969.
The agreement fell short in only two areas: balance of funds and government jobs. The first issue of balance of funds was resolved without much controversy. The second issue involving a mere 5,000 jobs was delayed as the judgment was bogged down in the courts.
Today, the Telangana Martyrs Memorial stands tall at Gun Park opposite the State Assembly Building. The Web site dedicated to those who died during the separate state movement says the following: “After the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre it was the 1969 Telangana movement which took more than 370 brave Indian sons, unparallel in the recent Indian history. The real culprit was Kasu Brahmananda Reddy, known to be General Dyer of Telangana.”
The culprit was not Kasu Brahmananda Reddy.The culprits were the cowardly politicians who did not have the guts to fight for their cause democratically and resorted to using young men and children for their selfish ends. Who is the real villain of this tragic episode—Kasu Brahmananda Reddy or Dr. Marri Chenna Reddy?
The Telangana memorial is neither a symbol of bravery nor martyrdom. To the contrary, it is a sad reminder of political opportunism. It is a standing reminder of scores of innocent children who laid their lives down for a mere 5,000 jobs and 33 crore rupees.
The philosopher George Santayana said, Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Unfortunately, students are particularly prone to repeat past mistakes. Given their age, students lack the historic perspective and are driven by emotions, rather than facts. Today’s students, for the most part, do not know how the leaders duped students in 1969–1970 and how they lost an entire academic year while many lost their lives.
KCR so far has not fully exploited the students for his cause. However, when push comes to shove, he is capable of using students as his trump card. On July 2, 2007, he said, “In 6 years of Telangana movement we have not shown a desire to include the students in the agitation. However, the time has come where the role of students is needed.” KCR instructed the leaders of his organization to make a personal visit to every intermediate and degree college in Nizam Telangana. He instructed them to form committees of 15– 24 students. These committees of students, he said, would then receive special training in Hyderabad’s Telangana Bhavan.
Special training to do what—training on how to recreate the mayhem of 1970 or training on how to become targets of police guns? It is repulsive that the Telangana leaders continue to exploit 15- to 17-year-old children for their selfish ends.
The hero of our story, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, probably patted herself on the back for skillfully defusing the Telangana crisis. Little did she know that there was a much larger problem brewing on the horizon that would fully test her leadership capabilities—and that challenge was the Jai Andhra movement.
I MYSELF SEARCHED A LOT OVER THE INTERNET BUT COULD GATHER ONLY LIMITED INFORMATION. BUT OUT OF THE SNOWS I FOUND THIS INFORMATION IN Mr. NALLAMOTU CHAKRAVARTHY’ S WEBSITE .
I FOUND IT USEFUL SO THOUGHT OF PUTTING THIS IN MY BLOG .
SO THIS PRESENT TEXT IS TAKEN FROM HIS WEBSITE.
THE LINK TO HIS WEBSITE IS GIVEN BELOW.
THANKS TO Mr. NALLAMOTU CHAKRAVARTHY FOR ALL THE PAINS IN RESEARCH AND GATHERING THE INFORMATION WHICH IS THE NEED OF THE HOUR.
SPECIAL CONGRATULATIONS FOR BRINGING OUT THE BOOK ” MY TELUGU ROOTS – NALLAMOTU CHAKRAVARTHY ”
links :……….
the jai telangana movement of 1969 and also ” MY TELUGU ROOTS ” Book.
Thank You ,

POLAVARAM DAM

The Polavaram Dam is strategically located on Latitude 170 13` N and Longitude 810 46` E. Sited near Polavaram village of the west Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, this Dam is 2310 m long and 48.32 m high. The catchment area of the Polavaram Dam is 306643 sq km. The Polavaram Dam site experiences around 1023 mm rainfall annually. The live storage of the dam is 75.2 TMC. Other than irrigational purposes, the dam is also used for the purposes like water supply to Vizag (23.44 TMC), Chhatisgarh (1.5 TMC), Orissa (5 TMC) and Godavari Delta (274.57 TMC). The installed capacity Power 12x80 MW

Polavaram dam, Andhra Pradesh Several organizations in Andhra Pradesh and other communities raised their voices against the Polavaram Dam project due to some adverse effects. The project was said to bring misery to more than 2.0 lakh people, by submerging and displacing 276 villages, mainly the tribal villages in an area of about one-lakh acres including forestland. However, the centre and the state governments adopted the project and its estimated cost was Rs 9 265 crores but recently the amount was added by the chief minister upto 20,000 crores.

After certain modifications, the design of the Polavaram Dam was made in a way so that the ecology and the lifestyle of the people are not hampered. The Dam is constructed straight across the Godavari River some 15 km north of Rajmundhry in east Godavari district. The Dam will be constructed at a level of 150 feet (47 m). The Right Main Canal will supply 226 MCM water to Budameru in Vijayawada. This canal opens into Krishna River upstream of Prakasam barrage. Thus this 174 km long canal will connect the Godavari and Krishna rivers. This canal will be navigated through freight boats. The Left Main Canal will cater to the water requirements of the 12 lakh acres in north coastal districts besides providing drinking water in the surrounding urban and rural areas. It will also supply irrigational water to the north coastal districts of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam.

TELANGANA HISTORY

Telangana is a region bordering the states of Maharashtra on North-West, Karnataka on West, Chattisgargh and Orissa on North, and Coastal Andhra region on East and Rayalaseema region on South; both these regions were part of Andhra state and were merged with Telangana region to form the current Andhra Pradesh state in 1956. The region has an area of 114,840 km2, and population of 30,696,520 per the 2001 census.The name is derived from Telungu. The place where Telungu is spoken is called Telangana. Some also say that the name is derived from historical and puranic accounts of Tailangana Desha, meaning the land of thill (an oilseed). The region lies on the Deccan plateau to the west of the Eastern Ghats range, and includes the northwestern interior districts of Andhra Pradesh state. Telangana region has 10 districts: Warangal, Adilabad, Khammam, Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda, Rangareddy, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Medak, and the state capital of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad. The Krishna and Godavari rivers flow through the region from west to east.
On December 9, 2009, the Government of India announced that the process for the formation of Telangana state would be considered upon introduction and passage of a separation statement by the state assembly of Andhra Pradesh.The Government of India has since constituted a five member committee headed by Justice B. N. Srikrishna to study the feasibility of a separate Telangana state within the Indian Union.

History


The Telangana region was the heart of numerous dynasties. Chowmahalla Palace was home to the Nizams of Hyderabad state
In Treta yuga, it is believed that Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana spent their life in exile at Parnashala on the banks of the Godavari river, which is about 25 km from Bhadrachalam in Khammam District in the Telangana region.
Telangana has been the homeland to the Sathavahanas and Kakatiyas. Kotilingala in Karimnagar was the first capital of the Sathavahanas before Dharanikota. Excavations at Kotilingala revealed coinage of Simukha, the first Satavahana emperor.
The region experienced its golden age during the reign of the Kakatiyas, a Telugu dynasty that ruled most parts of what is now Andhra Pradesh from 1083 CE to 1323. Ganapatideva was known as the greatest of the Kakatiyas and the first after the Satavahanas to bring the entire Telugu area under one rule. He put an end to the rule of the Cholas, who accepted his suzerainty in the year 1210. He established order in his vast dominion that stretched from the Godavari delta and Anakapalle in the east to Raichur (in modern day Karnataka) in the west and from Karimnagar & Bastar (in modern day Chattisgarh) in the north to Srisailam & Tripurantakam, near Ongole, in the south. It was also during his reign that the Golkonda fort was first constructed by the Kakatiyas. Rani Rudramadevi and Prataparudra were prominent kings from the Kakatiya dynasty.
Telangana then came under Muslim rule in 14th century by the Delhi Sultanate, followed by Bahmanis, Qutb Shahis, and the 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 the Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of Andhra Pradesh, which were part of British India's Madras Presidency.
Telangana Rebellion
The Telangana Rebellion was a Communist led peasant revolt that took place in the former princely state of Hyderabad between 1946 and 1951. This was led by the Communist Party of India
The revolt began in the Nalgonda district and quickly spread to the Warangal and Bidar districts. Peasant farmers and labourers revolted against the Nizam and the local feudal landlords (jagirdars and deshmukhs) who were loyal to the Nizam. The initial modest aims were to do away with the illegal and excessive exploitation meted out by these feudal lords in the name of bonded labour. The most strident demand was for the writing off of all debts of the peasants that were manipulated by the feudal lords.
Few among the well-known individuals at the forefront of the movement were great leaders like Anabheri Prabhakar Rao, Puchalapalli Sundaraiah, Makineni Basavapunaiah, Chandra Rajeswara Rao, Raavi Narayana Reddy, Arjula Ramana Reddy, the Urdu poet Makhdoom Mohiuddin, Hassan Nasir, Bhimreddy Narasimha Reddy, Mallu Venkata Narasimha Reddy, Mallu Swarajyam, Arutla Ramchandra Reddy and his wife Arutla Kamala Bai.
The violent phase of the movement ended after the central government sent in the army. Starting in 1951, the CPI shifted to a more moderate strategy of seeking to bring communism to India within the constraints of Indian democracy.
Post-independence history of Telangana
When India became independent from the British Empire, the Nizam of Hyderabad wanted Hyderabad State to remain independent under the special provisions given to princely states. The Government of India annexed Hyderabad State on September 17, 1948, in an operation by the Indian Army called Operation Polo. When India became independent, the Telugu-speaking people were distributed in about 22 districts, 9 of them in the Telangana region of Nizam's Dominions (Hyderabad State), 12 in the Madras Presidency (Andhra region), and one in French-controlled Yanam. A Communist led peasant revolt started in 1946 and lasted until 1951, weakening the viability of Hyderabad as an Indian state in its present form.
The Central Government appointed a civil servant, Keralite Vellodi Narayana Menon K, as Chief Minister of Hyderabad state on 26 January 1950. He administered the state with the help of bureaucrats from Madras state and Bombay state. In 1952, Telangana had tasted democracy for the first time when it participated in general elections and elected Dr. Burgula Ramakrishna Rao as the Chief minister of Hyderabad State. The Telugu speaking people in Madras state enjoyed some form of democracy since 1920. During this time there were violent Mulki agitations by some Telanganites to send back bureaucrats from Madras state, and to strictly implement Mulki rules.
Meanwhile, Telugu-speaking areas (Andhra region) were carved out of an erstwhile Madras state by popular agitation by leaders like Potti Sri Ramulu to create Andhra State with Kurnool as its capital in 1953.
Merger of Telangana and Andhra
In December 1953, the States Reorganization Commission was appointed to prepare for the creation of states on linguistic lines. The States Reorganization Commission (SRC) was not in favour of an immediate merger of Telangana region with Andhra state, despite the common language between the two.
Paragraph 382 of States Reorganization Commission Report (SRC) said "opinion in Andhra is overwhelmingly in favour of the larger unit, public opinion in Telangana has still to crystallize itself. Important leaders of public opinion in Andhra themselves seem to appreciate that the unification of Telangana with Andhra, though desirable, should be based on a voluntary and willing association of the people and that it is primarily for the people of Telangana to take a decision about their future". The people of Telangana had several concerns. The region had a less developed economy than Andhra, but with a larger revenue base (mostly because it taxed rather than prohibited alcoholic beverages), which people of Telangana feared might be diverted for use in Andhra. They also feared that planned irrigation projects on the Krishna and Godavari rivers would not benefit Telangana proportionately even though people of Telangana controlled the headwaters of the rivers. It was also feared that the people of Andhra, who had access to higher standards of education under the British Rule, would have an unfair advantage in seeking Government and Educational jobs.
The commission proposed that the Telangana region be constituted as a separate state with a provision for unification with Andhra state, after the 1961 general elections, if a resolution could be passed in the Telangana state assembly with a two-third majority.
The Chief Minister of Hyderabad State, Burgula Ramakrishna Rao, expressed his view that a majority of Telangana people were against the merger.
Prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru initially was skeptical of merging Telangana with the Andhra State, fearing a “tint of expansionist imperialism” in it. Later, he compared the merger to a matrimonial alliance having “provisions for divorce” if the partners in the alliance cannot get on well.
However, following the "Gentlemen's agreement, the central government established a unified Andhra Pradesh on November 1, 1956. The agreement provided reassurances to Telangana in terms of power sharing as well as administrative domicile rules and distribution of expenses of various regions.
Anti-Nehru politics emerged with the repression of the Telengana movement; many within the Congress extended their hands to radical and not-so-radical leftist causes. Feroze Gandhi was among them.
Separate Telangana state movement
1969 movement
In the years after the formation of Andhra Pradesh state, people of Telangana expressed dissatisfaction over 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 including 369 students.
Although the Congress faced some dissension within its ranks, its leadership stood against additional linguistic states. 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 chagrin of separatists, rejoined the safer political haven of the Congress ranks.
During the movement, the Government promised to correct what critics saw as violation to Gentleman's agreement in jobs, budget allocations, educational facilities. Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi was strongly against the division of the state but on her recommendation, P. V. Narasimha Rao became first Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh from Telangana on September 30, 1971.
In the year 1972, all candidates belonging to STPS under the leadership of M Sridhar Reddy contested the assembly elections, however, only Mr Thakkalapalli Purushotham Rao got elected from Wardhannapet constituency of Warangal District and rest were defeated. In 1969, Mr Purushotham Rao unveiled Telangana map in the state assembly.Purushotham Rao was for outright separation during the 1969 movement and he supported the student views.
At the end of 1972, when the Supreme Court upheld the Mulki rules, Jai Andhra movement started in Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions protesting the protections mentioned in the Gentleman's agreement.[9] P. V. Narasimha Rao had to resign as Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh on January 10, 1973. President's rule was declared in the state. Finally, a political settlement was arrived at under the aegis of the Central Government. A Six-Point Formula was agreed upon by the leaders of the two regions to prevent any recurrence of such agitations in future. The `Six-Point Formula' included the abolition of Mulki rules and the Telangana Regional Committee (protections mentioned in the Gentleman's agreement) and the establishment of a Central University at Hyderabad to augment educational facilities. In regards to jobs, state divided into six zones, within the framework of three regions, namely, Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, and Telangana (Zone V, and Zone VI) with Hyderabad under Zone VI. Each zone should prefer local candidates for state government jobs. However according to GOM, the regions were rezoned with Zone I,II,III Coastal Andhra, Zone IV Rayalaseema, Zone V,IV Telangana.
Movement in 1990-2004
The emotions and forces generated by the movement in 1969 were not strong enough, however, for a continuing drive for a separate state until 1990s when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), promised a separate Telangana state if they came to power.BJP created Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarkhand states in year 2000 as promised. 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. In another development, a new party called Telangana Rashtra Samithi (or TRS), led by Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), was formed with the single point agenda of creating a separate Telangana state, with Hyderabad as its capital.
Grievances of Telangana proponents
Telangana is the largest single region of the three regions of Andhra Pradesh state covering 41.47% of its total area, is inhabited by 40.54% of the state’s population, contributes about 76% to the state’s revenues (excluding central government contribution). From Central govt: 19.86%, From Telangana: 61.47% (including 37.17% from Hyderabad), From Andhra: 14.71, From Rayalaseema: 3.90%..
Among others, alleged injustices in water, budget allocations, jobs are the grievances cited by Telangana proponents. Telangana supporters cite that the majority of water supply is from the Telangana region, yet canal irrigation disproportionately benefits the Coastal Andhra region with relative underdevelopment of Telangana. In addition, the share of education funding for Telangana ranges from 9.86% in government aided primary schools to government degree colleges which has a share of 37.85%. Above numbers includes the expenditure in Capital Hyderabad. In addition, budget allocations to Telangana are generally less than 1/3 of total Andhra Pradesh budget. In addition, there are allegations that the Telangana budget is being misappropriated. Telangana proponents cite that only 20% of total Government employees, less than 10% employees in secretariat, less than 5% of head of the departments in Andhra Pradesh are from Telangana, while those from other regions make up the bulk of employment.Andhra Pradesh was represented by Telangana chief ministers for only 6-1/2 years out of over five decades of its existence, with no chief minister from the region being in power continuously for more than 2-1/2 years.
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. They allege that the experiment to remain as one state proved to be a futile exercise and therefore, separation is found to be the best solution.
2004 and later
In 2004, for Assembly and Parliament elections, the Congress party and the TRS had an electoral alliance in the Telangana region with the promise of a separate Telangana State.[ Congress came to power in the state and formed a coalition government at the centre. TRS joined the coalition government in 2004 and was successful in making a separate Telangana state a part of the common minimum program (CMP) of the coalition government. In September 2006, TRS withdrew support from the Congress led coalition government at the centre on the grounds of alleged indecision by the government over the delivery of its electoral promise to create Telangana.
In December 2006, the TRS won the by-election to the Karimnagar parliamentary constituency with a record margin.The TRS continued to pressure for the creation of aTelangana state in 2008.
All TRS legislators in Parliament and in the State (4 MPs, 16 MLAs, 3 MLCs) resigned in the 1st week of March 2008 and forced by-elections to increase the pressure on Congress party to take action.
By-elections for the 16 MLA seats, 4 MP seats were held May 29, 2008. During the election campaign, the TRS party said it is a referendum on a Telangana state but both Congress and TDP parties said it is not a referendum on Telangana and also said that they are not opposed to the formation of Telangana state. To the disappointment of Telangana proponents, the TRS retained only 7 out of 16 MLA seats and 2 out of 4 MP seats after the by-elections.
In June 2008, Devender Goud, who is considered number two in the TDP, a politbureau member and Deputy Leader of the Telugu Desam Legislature Party, resigned from the party saying he would devote his time and energy to the formation of a separate Teelangana state. In July 2008, Mr Goud along with some other leaders like Mr. E Peddi Reddy formed a new party called Nava Telangana Praja Party or NTPP.
On 9 October 2008, in a historical turnaround from its 26-year history TDP announced its support for the creation of Telangana.
Konda Laxman Bapuji of the Nava Telangana Party announced that "We solemnly declare statehood for Telangana on November 2, 2008."

2009 and later
In February 2009 the state government declared that it had no objection, in principle, to the formation of separate Telangana and that the time had come to move forward decisively on this issue. To resolve issues related to it the government constituted a joint house committee.
Ahead of the 2009 General Elections in India, all the major parties in Andhra Pradesh supported the formation of Telangana. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) again announced that they would create two more states, Telangana and Gorkhaland, if they won the election.. The Congress Party still says it is committed to Telangana statehood, but claims Muslim minorities are opposed to creation of separate state along with majority of people. Some analysts, however, feel that the "Muslim reluctance card" has been deftly played by then Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who is staunchly opposed to the formation of the new state.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had promised to work for Telangana statehood. Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) joined a Mahakutami (or grand alliance) with TDP and left parties to defeat the Congress party for denying statehood for Telangana.
The Praja Rajyam Party (PRP), newly founded by film star Chiranjeevi, supported Telangana statehood. Nava Telangana Party merged with PRP after it realized that there is not enough political space for two sub-regional Telangana parties with Telananga statehood as main agenda.

Congress returned to power both at center and state.
In September 2009, Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR) died in a helicopter crash while flying in bad weather.
On November 29, 2009, the TRS president, K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) started a fast-unto-death demanding that the Congress party introduce a Telangana bill in the Parliament. He was arrested by the government of Andhra Pradesh. Student organizations, employee unions and various organizations joined the movement.Telangana strikes shut down Telangana on Dec 6th and 7th. Student organizations planned a massive rally at the state Assembly on Dec 10th. Government warned that the rally did not have permission and deployed police troops through out Telangana. The apparent decline in KCR's health led to a sense of urgency to take a decision on the issue of Telangana statehood.
Proposed Telangana state formation process
On December 9, 2009, P. Chidambaram, the Union Minister of Home Affairs announced that the Indian government would start the process of forming a separate Telangana state, pending the introduction and passage of a separation resolution in the Andhra Pradesh assembly. KCR thus ended his 11 day fast, saying from his hospital bed that this was a "true victory of the people of Telangana."
Pro-Telangana supporters celebrated the central government decision while those from the Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions (Andhra region) protested. In fact, within a short time of the Home Minister's declaration, sensing the public mood, MLAs from the Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions (Andhra region) submitted their resignations in protest of the process of creation of a new state within Andhra Pradesh. By the 16th of December, at least 147 legislators (including Praja Rajyam Founder Chiranjeevi) and many Members of Parliament had resigned in protest of the Government's decision to begin discussions on forming a new state of Telangana. 22 Ministers from the State Cabinet, all from Andhra (Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema) regions submitted their resignations.
On December 16, media reports confirmed that there was a split in the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) over the Telangana issue, with its leader Chiranjeevi as well as 16 out of 18 party MLAs(the remaining 2 hailed from Telangana) opposing the division of Andhra Pradesh while Telangana leaders in the party were unhappy with the shift in the party's views.
On December 23, the Government of India announced that no action on Telangana will be taken until a consensus is reached by all parties. The TRS reacted by calling for another general strike on 24th Dec '09, an action aimed at stalling the regional economy.
A Joint Action Committee (JAC) was formed with the pro-separation members of the major political parties. There were reports that members of the JAC had widely divergent approaches on the issue of a separate Telangana. Subsequently, Andhra (Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema) region MLAs started withdrawing their resignations while MLAs and ministers from Telangana started submitting their resignations, demanding the Centre to take immediate steps to initiate the process of bifurcating Andhra Pradesh. The Home minister had an all party meeting on the 5th of January to elicit views of all parties in the State. Further, on the advice of Congress party's central leadership, all of the Ministers from Telangana withdrew their resignations.Rallies, hunger strikes, suicides continue, sometimes turning violent, through out Telangana to protest against the delay in bifurcating the State. The all-party Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) started relay hunger strikes and threatened resignations of all legislators on Jan 28, demanding the Centre to spell out its stand on separate Telangana and start the process of creating the State within a timeframe. The Union minister for Home Affairs P Chidambaram announced on January 28 that a Committee to examine the demand for a separate Telangana would be announced after a week. On the 3rd February the government announced the 5 member committee that would look into the issue of Bifurcation of state.
The Telangana Joint Action Committee said the agitations would continue until a Bill was passed in Parliament for the formation of a Telangana State. Agitation involved human chains, community kitchens on roads, amongst others On Feb 3rd JAC organized a longest human chain in India, a distance of 500 km, from north to South in Telangana.[1
The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has supported a separate Telangana state by giving the slogan, "Justice for Telangana and Telangana for Justice"The Jamaat with its student wing Students Islamic Organisation of India organized a large rally at Nizam college grounds on February 7, 2010.
On February 12, Central government announced Terms of Reference to B.N. Srikrishna Committee with a deadline of December 31, 2010. Telangana-JAC rejected the terms of reference saying that it "undid" Union home minister's statement in New Delhi on December 9, 2009.
All 10 of TRS MLAs, 1 TDP MLA, 1 BJP MLA insisted speaker of Assembly to accept their resignations. Speaker accepts resignations of 12 MLAs. Rest of the Telangana MLAs withdrew their resignations which disappointed Telangana JAC.
On February 16, Congress legislators from the Telangana region resigned from the Joint Action Committee due to "unilateral actions by KCR."
As of February 22, 2010, more than 250 Telangana people committed suicides over the delay in the formation of Telangana state.
Sri Krishna Committee solicited suggestions/views from the political parties, social organisations and other stakeholders on February 21. Committee received over 60,000 petitions by the deadline of April 10. The committee began personal interactions with the various stakeholders, including the political parties starting from April 16. The committee met with the leaders of TRS, PRP, CPI, MIM, TDP leaders from Seema-Andhra, TDP leaders from Telangana and various organizations from though out Andhra Pradesh.
By-elections for 12 MLA seats are scheduled on Jul 27. Congress and TDP decided to contest elections ignoring the appeal of JAC.
On July 6, Telangana congress legislators and ministers met Sri Krishna commission and made strong arguments in favor of the formation of Telangana state.
All the Telangana MLAs who resigned protesting the delay in the formation of Telangana(11 TRS and 1BJP) in February were re-elected in the by-elections on July 27, 2010 with huge majority. TDP lost deposits(i.e got less then 1/6th of polled votes)in all constituencies; Congress lost deposits in 4 constituencies.


Geography


Telangana region marked in white within the state of Andhra Pradesh.
Of the three regions of the state,Telangana has the largest area, with 8,14,800 km2.The Telangana plateau is drained by two major rivers, the Godavari and the Krishna. The entire region is divided into two main regions namely ghats and peneplains. The surface is dotted with low depressions. The region has very valuable coal mines in Kotthagoodem.
Natural resources (rivers, coal, limestones, forests)

Telangana region Andhra Pradesh is situated in the central stretch of the eastern seaboard of the Indian Peninsula. The river Godavari is flowing on the North and the river Krishna is flowing on the South. 69% of Krishna River and 79% of Godavari River catchment area is in Telangana. Apart from the major rivers, there are other small rivers such as Manair, Bhima, Dindi, Kinnerasani, Manjeera, Munneru, Moosi, Penganga, Praanahita, and Peddavagu and Taliperu.
Forests: 45% of the forest area in the state is in Telangana region spread across five districts.
Coal: 20% of the coal deposits in the country is in Telangana region. Singareni Collieries excavate Coal and used it for industrial purposes and for thermal power stations. The coal supplied from this region, and the power produced is supplied to entire south india.
Limestones: There are limestone deposits in the region, which cater to cement factories in the region. Telangana also has got other resources like bauxite, and mica.

Demography


9 out of 10 districts(except Hyderabad district) in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh are recognized by the Government of India as backward. According to the Backward Regions Grant Fund 2009-10, 13 districts are located in Andhra Pradesh, 9 are from Telangana and the rest are from other regions. 86% of Telangana is Hindu while 12.4% is Muslim, and 1.2% is Christian. Hyderabad city has 41% of the total Muslim population. Telangana districts(outside Hyderabad district) have 8.4% of Muslim population.
More than 80% of Telangana people speak the Telangana dialect of Telugu which is primarily Telugu with Urdu influences. About 11% of Telangana people speak Hyderabadi Urdu. Urdu speakers are mostly Muslims in Hyderabad city and in other major towns though people of other ethnicities also use Urdu for day to day life.
Culture and identity


Hyderabadi biryani


Telangana has its own distinctive culture and identity. Most prominent is the Hyderabadi Culture also called Deccan Culture. The Telugu language spoken here has evolved into a new dialect with a liberal mixture of words from Urdu.[citation needed] Telugu is the major language spoken while Urdu is spoken by Muslims. Hindi is spoken by people from other states of North India and Central India like Gujarat and Maharashtra. Telugu, Urdu and English are the official languages of the region.
Festivals: Diwali, Dassera, Eid-ul-Fitr and Ugadi are prominent festivals in Telangana. The region celebrates distinctive festivals like Bathukamma, and Bonalu. The other festivals of Hindu and Muslims such as Holi, Rakhi and Moharram are also celebrated with equal enthusiasm as in northern India. The national festival Sankranti is also celebrated in the beginning of harvest season on 14 January every year.


Places of interest



Osman Sagar, Gandipet Lake
• Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh
• Ramappa Temple, Historic temple located 77 kilometers from Warangal District.
• Charminar - An iconic 400 year-old landmark of Hyderabad, featuring four graceful minarets.
• Falaknuma Palace - Built by Nawab Viqar al-Umra', a beautiful and stunning piece of architecture.
• Golconda Fort - located on the outskirts of the city, Golconda Fort is one of the most magnificent fortress complexes in India.
• Salar Jung Museum - houses the largest one-man collection of antiques in the world.
• Birla Mandir - An elaborate white marble temple with majestic views of the city and the Husain Sagar (lake).
• Birla Planetarium - located in the heart of the city on the panoramic hillock of Nawbat Pahad.
• Husain Sagar - man-made lake that separates the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.
• Chilkur Balaji Temple, also known as Visa Balaji Temple
• Osman Sagar, also known as Gandipet, is a lake near the city.
• NTR Gardens, a recreation park, located on the tankbund.
• Purani Haveli - The former official residence of the Nizam.
• Sanghi Temple - A temple dedicated to Venkateshwara which graces a promontory
• Madhapur - The IT Capital of Andhra Pradesh and Hyderabad.
• Nagarjuna sagar on Krishna river in Nalgonda district
• Warangal, capital city of Kakatiyas
• Basara Saraswathi Temple, a temple of Saraswati, one of the two temples in India, which is located in Adilabad Dist 60km away from Nirmal Temple Web site
• Medak: Famous for outstanding church & Medak khila
• Bhongir fort:Famous single stone hill with fort , 45 km from Hyderabad (Wgl-Hyd highway)
• Yadagirigutta: Famous Laxmi Narasimha Swamy Temple, 50 km from Hyderabad (Wgl-Hyd highway)
• Vemulawada - Rajarajeshawara Temple: Located 38 km from Karimnagar built by chalukyas between AD 750 and 975.
• Kaleshwaram : 130 km from Karimnagar
• Dharmapuri : On the banks of River Godavari, 78 km from Karimnagar, is the 15th century temple town of Dharmapuri.
• Nagunur Fort : The village of Nagunur is about 8 km from Karimnagar Town.
• Dhulikatta : 20 km from Karimnagar is Dhulikatta an important Buddhist spot visited by monks from all over the world.
• Kondagattu :About 35 km from Karimnagar is this breathtaking temple of Lord Anjaneya Swamy. Apart from the temple, the fort of Kondalaraya & Bojjapotana caves are worth seeing at Kondagattu.
• Molangoor Quilla : 30 km from Karimnagar, strategically located on summit of a big isolated granite hill, this fort was built by the Kakathiyas.
• Manthani : Ancient center for Vedic teachings. It is located on the banks of River Godavari, and at a distance of 70 kilometers from Karimnagar.
• Elgandal fort : Located 15 km away from Karimnagar.
• Nirmal:is very famous for handicrafts and paintings