Hyderabad:
New concern in Andhra Pradesh as K Chandrashekhar Rao, or KCR, is reported to be in critical condition in hospital. His doctors say it's imperative that KCR break his hunger fast.
Rao is at the heart of the movement for a separate state of Telangana. He began his fast 10 days ago. In between, he was caught having a glass of juice on camera. This upset his followers; he later insisted his doctors had force-fed him.
Andhra Chief Minister K Rosaiah visited Rao over the weekend to request him to end his fast, but Rao refused. The government worries that reports of his deteriorating health will incite violence in a state that's already simmering over the Telangana movement.
KCR and his party, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) are leading the demand for a separate state of Telangana. Pro-Telangana protesters surrounded the house of Danam Nagender, Andhra's Health Minister, for proposing that Hyderabad should be made a Union territory. They burnt an effigy of Nagendar, described as an "anti-Telangana minister." In response, Nagendar said, "You have a right to protest but you can't make others forcibly shut their mouth. Everyone has a right in a democracy to an opinion."
At Osmania University on Tuesday, students have defied a government order to vacate their hostels. Professors have also threatened to quit if the police is not withdrawn from the campus. Students were lathicharged by the police on Monday. The University closed down last week till the December 18 as a precaution against violence, but it remains in many ways the epicenter of the protests for a Telangana state.
The Telangana issue raged in the Andhra Assembly on Tuesday, forcing the adjournment of the House for the day. The TRS wanted the Chief Minister to move a resolution on Telangana, so that parties could vote on the matter. However, this is dangerous for the ruling Congress, because this could expose its own divisions on the issue. Representatives from the other two regions of Andhra - Rayalseema and coastal Andhra-are opposed to a bifurcation of the state.
Congress: Dealing with TelanganaAs Andhra's Congress government struggles to maintain law and order, Chief Minister, K Rosaiah, has said it's upto the Congress' central command in Delhi to decide the issue. He will reportedly fly to Delhi on Wednesday to meet with party president Sonia Gandhi.
The party's High Command held hectic consultations with its MPs from the state on Tuesday, amid diverse pulls and pressures. Almost all the 12 Congress MPs from Telengana region, who favour immediate creation of a separate state, met Law Minister M Veerappa Moily, who is also in charge of the party affairs in Andhra Pradesh. Party MPs from other parts of the state, including Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of late Chief Minister Y S Rajashekhar Reddy, also met Moily.
The consultations followed an all-party meeting held in Hyderabad by Chief Minister K Rosiah in a bid to resolve the sensitive issue.
Sources aware of the deliberations said Moily asked them to come out with their opinions so that the party can have a common stand on the issue. The MPs were also asked not to go on record before the media as differing views can "spoil the weather for the party."
A party spokesperson said that the Congress' stand remains that it is in principle not opposed to a separate state as long as "there is a consensus" on the issue.
But the party may soon have to take a more decided stand. On December 10, all groups supporting the Telagana cause have called a "Chalo Assembly" bandh where people have been asked to march to Hyderabad to protest outside the Assembly. There are growing fears that this demonstration will lead to violence on the streets. Armed reserve police have been summoned from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to work with local policemen and security forces to prevent protesters from entering Hyderabad.