Hyderabad:
Bus services were badly hit and shops and offices were shut on Thursday in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh due to protests against a plan to expand the proposed new state by adding two more districts. A group of ministers has reportedly favoured adding two more districts to the proposed new state, which would be politically beneficial to the Congress. But faced with fierce protests from the region, top Congress sources say the original Telangana proposal is not off the table yet.
Here are the latest updates on this story:
Protesters threw stones and clashed with the police outside the Osmania University in Hyderabad, and shops and offices are shut in the Telangana region as part of a bandh called by politician K Chandrasekhara Rao or KCR. Bus services were also affected due to the protests.
KCR fronted the campaign that led to the government announcing the creation of Telangana by dividing Andhra Pradesh. The residuary state will have the regions of Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra. For 10 years, the IT hub of Hyderabad will be a shared capital after which it will belong to Telangana.
The group of ministers tasked with preparing a roadmap for India's 29th state has reportedly recommended after a meeting last night that two districts of Rayalaseema - Kurnool and Anantpur - should be added to the 10 Telangana districts to create what could become 'Rayalatelangana'.
That would give the old and new states 21 Lok Sabha and 147 assembly seats each.
Sources say the ministers' panel has also kept the original Telangana proposal in its report, for the cabinet to take a final call.
Telangana politicians oppose Rayalatelangana as they say voters there would blame them for allowing non-Telangana districts to access the region's water and other resources.
The Congress sees in 'Rayalatelangana' a way of limiting the influence of both KCR and another major player, Jaganmohan Reddy of the YSR Congress, who has a strong base in Rayalaseema and stands to lose a chunk of his bastion to Telangana.
In Seemandhra, the Congress' own leaders including Chief Minister Kiran Reddy vehemently oppose bifurcation and thousands of protesting government employees struck work for over two months, disrupting power supply and other essential services.
The BJP has accused the Congress of reviving the Rayalatelangana proposal as part of a larger gameplan to scuttle the creation of the new state and mollify Seemandhra.
In its report, the Group of Ministers has reportedly detailed the distribution of assets, sharing of water and demarcation of boundaries. The panel is believed to have recommended special status for both states.
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