Andhra govt under pressure to act on Telangana

The K Rosaiah government in Andhra Pradesh finds itself under immense pressure from not only Opposition parties but also a section of Congress leaders to find out an early solution to the Telangana crisis.

Rosaiah discussed with his Cabinet colleagues from the region strategies to be adopted to arrive at an amicable solution and now the state government is looking towards the Centre for a bailout as Congress MPs hailing from Telangana requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to come up with a decision on the contentious issue.

With the winter session of the state legislature set to begin on Monday, the state government was seriously engaged in deliberations to find a solution to the crisis in the wake of the stepped-up agitation for a separate state.

TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao remained stubborn for the fifth day on Friday as he refused to end his fast while two of his party legislators locked themselves up in their legislature party office in the assembly and announced that they were going on a fast.

K Odelu and Koppula Easwar threatened to commit suicide if anyone tried to evict them from their office.

Health Minister Danam Nagender called on Rao at the NIMS, where he is said to be continuing his fast, as an emissary of the chief minister and prevailed upon him to end the fast.

"I shall end my fast only if a positive statement on Telangana is made," Rao reportedly told Nagender.

The state government has sent M V Rao, working in a private hospital in Hyderabad, as the personal doctor to attend on Rao in NIMS on his request.

NIMS doctors said the fasting leader was being administered saline and his health condition was stable.

Main Opposition Telugu Desam Party, meanwhile, said it would not directly take part in any agitation for Telangana, but would support any legislative process to facilitate formation of a separate state.

"We shall extend our support if the government moves a resolution in the assembly for creation of Telangana state," TDP MLA Erraballi Dayakar Rao said.

The Praja Rajyam Party wanted the government to find an amicable solution to the issue and not to resort to oppressive measures. "Since the Congress is in power both in the state and at the Centre, it should take the initiative any facilitate the process of carving out Telangana state," PRP Political Affairs Committee member C Ramachandraiah said.

The Communist Party of India announced that its affiliate wings like AISF would take direct part in the agitation for a separate Telangana state.

"We have already passed a political resolution seeking statehood for Telangana. We shall raise the issue in the ensuing session of the state legislature as well as ongoing session of Parliament," CPI state secretary K Narayana said.

Rajya Sabha member and senior Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao, a proponent of Telangana, said the high command has been already informed about the urgent need for taking a favourable decision on the statehood demand.

"Our MPs have already spoken to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on this and also the Prime Minister. I have apprised the National Security Adviser M K Narayanan about the fresh round of agitation for Telangana and sought his intervention as well," Hanumantha Rao told students, who mobbed his residence, on Friday.

In Dilsukhnagar, agitated students blocked the convoy of Information Technology Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy while effigies of Higher Education Minister D Sridhar Babu and Home Minister P Sabita Indra Reddy were burnt elsewhere.

Two private buses were gutted at Kukatpally in Hyderabad while few other incidents of damage to public property were reported from Medak, Nizamabad and Warangal districts, according to police sources.