TRS announces candidates, supports Nagam

HYDERABAD: Though he has not formally joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), the party has decided to extend its support to former minister Nagam Janardhan Reddy, who is seeking a re-election from his native Nagarkurnool Assembly constituency in Mahbubnagar district.

Dr. Reddy resigned the post after he became very vocal on the separate Telangana cause, which is seen as a camouflage to his feud with Telugu Desam Party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu. Dr. Reddy was one of the most trusted lieutenants of Naidu for more close to two decades. He resigned from his Assembly membership “espousing the cause” of a separate Telangana.

The TRS announced its party nominees for the byelections in six Assembly constituencies in the region. It has nominated Jupally Krishna Rao from Kollapur, a seat he vacated before quitting the Congress to join the TRS. Ditto with Gampa Govardhan (Kamareddi in Nizamabad district), who resigned from the TDP and joined the TRS and Jogu Ramanna (Adialabad) and T Rajaiah (Station Ghanpur). The TRS did not leave the Mahbubnagar seat that fell vacant due to the demise of Congress MLA Rajeshwar Reddy. It decided to field a minority, Ibrahim, from Mahbubnagar against the Congress candidate, who would be most likely wife of the late legislator.

While the Congress, the TDP, and the CPI (M) would field candidates in all the Assembly candidates, YSR Congress Party will field its candidate Nallapureddi Prasanna Kumar Reddi from Kovur Assembly constituency in Nellore. The TDP, the Congress and the CPM also almost zeroed in on their candidates, but official announcements have yet to come. The BJP might field a candidate in Kovur.

TRS announces candidates for Andhra assembly by-polls

Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Sunday announced names of the candidates for the assembly constituencies in Telangana region for the March 18 bypolls.

The candidates are: Jupally KrishnaRao (Kollapur), T Rajaiah (StationGhanpur), Jogu Ramanna(Adilabad), Gampa Govardhan(Kamareddy), Syed Ibrahim(Mahabubnagar), TRS sources said.

Except Ibrahim, four others had quit as MLAs in support of the separateTelangana agitation.

The party decided to support the candidature of Nagam Janardhan Reddy, a senior Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader, who quit the party and also his post in Nagarkurnool, in support of Telangana demand.

The bypolls in Andhra Pradesh are scheduled to be held in seven assembly constituencies on March 18. Except Kovur in Nellore district of coastalAndhra, six others are in Telangana region.

No Telangana Bill in Budget Session: Jaipal Reddy

Hyderabad, Feb 19: Union Petroleum Minister and senior congress leader S Jaipal Reddy on Sunday, Feb 19 made it clear that the Telangana Bill will not be tabled in the upcoming Budget Session of Parliament.

Moreover, Mr Reddy said that congress-led UPA government has not taken any final decision on the contentious Telangana issue so far.

Meanwhile, MPs from Telangana has decided to put the pressure on the Union government to pass the crucial bill in coming budget session.

Congress MPs also attacked central government saying government has not announced whether it is going to grant Telangana or not as it has committed to implement the bill on December 9, 

11 TRS MLAs suspended from House

HYDERABAD: Eleven MLAs of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) along with an Independent MLA were suspended from the state Assembly on Friday for disrupting the proceedings of the House by Speaker Nadendla Manohar.

Four CPI MLAs and two BJP Legislators also walked out in protest against the suspension of TRS MLAs.

The main opposition TDP, which had disrupted the House for three days demanding sacking of ministers involved in the liquor syndicates boycotted the Question Hour but later attended the budget presentation by finance minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy.

The TRS members, who too had been stalling the proceedings for the past three days demanding a resolution on Telangana statehood, continued with their protest on Friday as well by storming the Speaker's podium.

The Speaker adjourned the proceedings for half-an-hour as the TRS legislators continued the din by storming the Speaker’s podium.

Noisy scenes continued even after the House reassembled after more than an hour when legislative affairs minister, D Sridhar Babu, said that they too 'respect' the Telangana sentiment. He appealed to the members to let the House transact business.

At the same time, CPI and BJP legislators were on their feet at their respective positions and raised slogans seeking a resolution on Telangana.

Amid the din, Sridhar Babu moved a motion for suspending the TRS members from the House for the day. The motion was carried through voice vote and marshals were called in to evict the suspended MLAs.

The suspended MLAs include : Harish Rao, KT Rama Rao, Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, Koppula Eshwar, Vidyasagar Rao, Odelu, Vinay Bhaskar, Arvind Reddy, Chennamaneni Ramesh, Ravinder Reddy,� S.Satyanarayana and K Samaiah.

CPI floor leader, G. Mallesham, protested the TRS MLAs’ suspension and lashed out at the Congress for failing to keep its word on Telangana. BJP floor leader, Y. Lakshminarayana, accused the Congress of taking a U-turn after promising Telangana.

The House then took up a discussion on the motion of thanks to governor’s address. Later, state government chief whip Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy spoke on the motion of thanks on governor's address.

AP-LD BUDGET 4 LAST

(REOPENS WRG63) (REOPENS WRG63) Criticising the Budget, TRS MLA T Harish Rao alleged that it failed to respond to the concerns of Telangana people, the Dalits and other weaker sections. Expressing dissatisfaction over the Budget, YSR Congress claimed that the Government has ignored two core issues mentioned in the 2009 election manifesto. "The nine-hour power supply to farmer and 30 kg rice schemes, which were the main reasons for Congress coming back to power in 2009, were ignored by the Government which has misplaced priorities in this budget," party leader Konatala Ramakrishna said. Lok Satta Party President and MLA Jayaprakash Narayan expressed his dismay over the Government's alleged silence on policies relating to allotment of lands and mines, and liquor auctions in the Budget for 2012-13. He said the Supreme Court, in a petition filed by the Lok Satta and others on the 2G spectrum scam, had directed that all natural resources like land and mines, not merely spectrum, be allocated on competitive bidding. "Andhra Pradesh, which has become the epicentre of corruption in allocation of lands and mines, ought to have indicated compliance with the Supreme Court directive," he maintained. Similarly, the Government did not utter a word on reviewing the present liquor policy which has been ruining poor people's health and finances, besides spawning monumental corruption involving elected people's representatives and bureaucrats, he alleged.

Ponnam Prabhakar targets Chief Minister at CLP meeting

The Congress Legislature Party meeting here on Thursday witnessed fireworks with the Telangana Congress MPs hitting out at Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy for allegedly sending ‘misleading' reports to the Centre on the statehood issue.

The meeting that lasted over an hour here saw a resolution being passed paving the way for formal merger of the Praja Rajyam with the Congress. The meeting decided to treat the YSR Congress Party on a par with the Telugu Desam Party as rivals of Congress.

The differences between the Congress MPs from Telangana and the Chief Minister came out in the open once again with Karimnagar MP Ponnam Prabhakar lamenting that the region was discriminated against in allotment of budget as well as taking up developmental works. Former Minister Gade Venkat Reddy staged a walkout saying that the CLP was not the venue to discuss such issues.

Peddapalli MP G. Vivekananda flayed the government for providing unprecedented security to TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu during his recent tour of Telangana.

The Chief Minister refuted the allegations saying that he was merely discharging his duties. The CLP decided to recommend installation of B.R. Ambedkar's statue in the Assembly.

KCR holds Chandi Yagam for Telangana?

HYDERABAD: Seeking separate Telangana state, TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao began a two-day Chandi Yagam at Telangana Bhavan, the party headquarters, here on Thursday. Vaastu scholar and astrologer Vavilala Damodar Sharma from Telangana, along with 23 priests, performed Nakshatra Navagraha Mahanyasa Purvaka Kubera Pasupati Maha Mrutyunjaya Pasupati Abhisheka Homam" at Prof Jayashankar Hall in the building.
The yagam began at 3.30 am and ended at 3 pm. On Friday the yagam will begin at 8.30 am and end at 1 pm. Rao, along with wife Shobha Rani, performed the homam.
Their daughter Kavitha, relatives, Capt. Laxmikantha Rao, MLA Vinay Bhaskar, party leaders and activists attended. Damodar Sharma said KCR would turn 58 years of age on Friday and the couple would take part in the yagam to be performed on Friday.
KCR’s Shashti Purti celebrations in 2014 would be organised in a separate Telangana state, Sharma predicted.

Opposition disrupts House proceedings

HYDERABAD: Opposition members on Tuesday stalled the Assembly proceedings forcing Speaker Nadendla Manohar to adjourn the House for the day without transacting any business.

No sooner did the House resume the members from Telugu Desam Party and Telangana Rashtra Samiti surround the Speaker's podium holding placards and shouting slogans in support of their respective demands. With repeated appeals from the Speaker failing to bring order, the House was adjourned for 30 minutes initially and later for 15 minutes. While TRS and T-TDP members insisted on a resolution on the formation of Telangana state, another group of TDP MLAs demanded the sacking of ministers for colluding with the liquor syndicate.

TRS looks to Gods to achieve Telangana statehood

Hyderabad, Feb 16 (PTI) TRS President K Chandrasekhar Rao today began a special puja in the party office here to propitiate the Gods for achieving separate Telangana state. The 'Chandi Yagam' is being performed for two days, party sources said. Rao had performed such pujas earlier too. He has announced that the separate statehood agitation would be intensified again after the academic year-end examinations of students concluded in March. PTI SJR RSY

Junior doctors spar with Telangana doctors

HYDERABAD: Representatives of the Telangana Doctors Association, who went to the Gandhi Hospital here on Tuesday to mediate between the agitating junior doctors and the state government, had a heated argument with the junior doctors who refused to call off the strike.

Telangana Doctors Association secretary general P Praveen said the junior doctors were adamant on continuing the strike though the government offered to give a written assurance to them on all their demands. Leaders of the Junior Doctors Association, however, said they were always open for talks with the government.

With the deadlock continuing, medical services at all government teaching hospitals in the state continued to be hit.

Centre unlikely to accede to GNLA's demand for a separate state for Garo tribals: GK Pillai

SHILLONG: The central government was unlikely to accede to the Garo National Liberation Army's (GNLA) demand for a separate state for Garo tribals in western part of Meghalaya, former union home secretary G.K. Pillai said Tuesday.

"The centre has not acceded to the creation of Telangana, Gorkhaland and Bodoland. Therefore, I don't think the government will give in to their (GNLA) demand for a separate Garoland," Pillai told IANS.

Congress not against Telangana: Deputy CM

NALGONDA: Deputy chief minister Damodhar Rajanarasimha said the Congress was not against separate Telangana state and expressed a hope that the high command would soon take a decision. Addressing a meeting after unveiling the statue of Dr. BR Ambedkar at Bhongir on Sunday, he said the party would respect the sentiments of the Telangana people.
Condemning the desecration of Ambedkar statues, he said everyone should strive to establish a casteless society.
He said the Union government would allocate more funds in the 13th Finance Commission for improving the literacy rate among the SCs and STs. Panchayat Raj minister K Jana Reddy said while some were continuing agitations for Telangana, they were working as silent workers waiting for an appropriate time.
He said he would strive for the all round development of the state.
He promised to provide funds to develop NIMS University at Bibinagar.
Bhongir MP Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy said Telangana state would be a reality if Jana Reddy resigned as minister. MLA Uma Madhava Reddy, district collector N. Muktheshwar Rao and former zilla parishad chairman Ka s i r e d d y Narayana Reddy were among those present.

TRS, BJP, CPI to corner AP govt on Telangana

HYDERABAD: With the air being thick with expectation that by-elections for the six Telangana and one coastal Andhra Assembly seats might be announced anytime, the TRS, the BJP and the CPI are planning to use the Assembly as a platform to further their common cause— statehood for Telangana.

Leaders of the three parties, who met on Monday evening, decided to have floor coordination to raise the Telangana issue whenever an opportunity came their way. Besides insisting on adoption of a resolution, the three parties will press for a thorough debate on the demand for statehood. With chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy already ruling out adoption of any resolution on Telangana, saying the matter lay in Centre’s jurisdiction. Nevertheless, he said the government was willing for a discussion on the issue.

The three parties will try to hold the government to its promise of a debate on Telangana as they want to expose how the Congress belied the expectations of the people of Telangana and how Telugu Desam abetted it. The TRS is already on the job with its leaders slamming the state government as well as the TDP branding them as Telangana betrayers.

TDP to move adjournment motion on Day 1

HYDERABAD: The Telugu Desam has decided to move an adjournment motion on farmers' problems in the Assembly on the first day of the budget session which will commence on February 13.

The party's Politburo, which met at NTR Trust Bhavan here on Saturday under the chairmanship of party president N Chandrababu Naidu, discussed the strategy to be adopted in the Assembly during the 45daylong session.

According to a Politburo member, the meeting decided to raise farmers' issues, the prevailing drought, delay in college fee reimbursement, textile traders' opposition to VAT, junior doctors' strike, rising prices of essential commodities and neglect of irrigation projects in Telangana.

The meeting discussed the ongoing CBI inquiry into the Emmar Properties scam and the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy assets case and decided to raise these issues also in the Assembly. The Politburo will meet again on Sunday to discuss issues in detail.

Some members suggested that the party launch a movement in Telangana, the way it undertook the recent Rythu Poru Bata, to regain its grip in the region. Some others suggested a padayatra or cycle yatra from Chevella to Pranahita to press the demand for national status to the proposed irrigation project and for its early completion.

If the party took up the programme, the members felt, it would help the party in the region.

It also discussed how to utilise Yuva Tarangalu saddassu to strengthen the party. The impending byelections was also discussed at the meeting.

Errabelli Dayakar Rao, Nama Nageswara Rao, Kadiam Srihari, Ramesh Rathode, Uma Madhava Reddy, MV Mysoora Reddy, party vicepresidents and official spokespersons participated in the meeting.

Talking with reporters later, Dayakar Rao came down heavily on TRS chief K Chandrasekara Rao and said KCR was acting like a wolf. KCR and his family benefited by playing the Telangana card, he alleged.

"KCR has been cheating Telangana people for 11 years in the name of separate state. He is criticising the TDP because the government has cancelled the Polavaram tenders under pressure from the Telugu Desam. KCR's aide grabbed the project contract as a gift from the government for diluting the Sakala Janula Samme," he said.

Aravind Kumar Goud said KCR was sure to be beaten by people with stones and warned him not to cross the limits while criticising the TDP.

Chhattisgarh CM supports separate Telangana state

Hyderabad: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh has promised support to a separate state of Telangana if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power in the 2014 general elections.

Asserting that he was aware of the pain endured by the people in their ongoing battle for a separate state, he blamed the Central Government for the delay in the formation of Telengana.

Addressing a large crowd here on Saturday, Singh said: "In 1997, the BJP had decided that a separate state must be carved and the issue of Telangana was also discussed. You all have endured so much suffering, you have faced so many hardships and the government in Delhi is forming different committees and commissions." 

"In the history of India, there has been not been the formation of so many committees and commissions for the creation of a state " he added. 

Singh further said that the BJP was committed to the development of the smaller states, stating that the three states carved out during his party''s rule have been flourishing. 

"I want to say this today because Chhattisgarh was created by Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 200, three states were carved out, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh. I have completed eight years as the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh and I am stepping into the ninth year," said Singh. 

"But the people who want to prove that small states cannot be successful, I want to tell Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh who are in Delhi that Chhattisgarh is an example of how small states can prove to be successful and then you can talk about Telangana," he added. 

Meanwhile, Singh lashed out at the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre for their deep involvement in several scams, and added that their priority is to conceal their flaws instead of working for the greater good of society. 

"The ministers in Delhi do not have the time, the money that went in the 2G scam, half of the people are in jail and half of them are in bail and others are worried about how they are going to be punished. Tihar jail has lack of space now," said Singh. 

"The people responsible in the Commonwealth Games scam have been unable to come out of jail, now the situation is such that the Tihar jail is proving to be small because most of the ministers are imprisoned," he added. 

TEJAC meets CS with wish list

HYDERABAD: The Joint Action Committee of Telangana Employees, Teachers, Gazetted Officers and Workers has chalked out a series of agitations including worktorule and Chalo Hyderabad March on March 20.The employees will stage lunchhour demonstrations on February 22 and 28 at their respective offices, a daylong dharna in front of the district collectorates and a massive dharna at Indira Park here on March 5. If the government does not concede their demands even then, they will organise a Chalo Hyderabad March on March 20. Addressing the media after submitting a memorandum to chief secretary Pankaj Dwivedi at the Secretariat on Friday, TEJAC chairman K Swamy Goud and secretarygeneral V Srinivas Goud and others said all Telangana employees would strictly follow worktorule from March 5. Employees will enter offices at 10.30 am and leave at 5 pm. They will not move or lift files nor hand over tiffinboxes or glasses of water to superiors or carry files into their cars. Thus, their worktorule will force officers to do the chores themselves. They decided to resort to "work to rule" as an answer to government's policy of "no work, no pay".Earlier, TEJAC leaders and a few hundred Secretariat employees held a sudden rally on the Secretariat premises and shouted slogans against the government, accusing it of harassing Telangana employees. The Secretariat was reverberated with slogans of "Jai Telangana" after a gap of about four months following the calling off of the 42day Sakala Janula Samme by Telangana employees. Swamy Goud said the government failed to honour the agreement it reached with Telangana employees despite several representations. The Sakala Janula Samme was withdrawn on the assurance given by prime minister Manmohan Singh, AICC general secretary in charge of AP Ghulam Nabi Azad and chief minister N.Kiran Kumar Reddy, he said."None of the nine demands has been implemented. Moreover, the government is harassing Telangana employees by denying promotions to eligible employees and not repatriating nonTelangana employees who came on deputation. The 42day strike period has not been treated as special leave period, because of which 20,000 employees who retired during SeptemberDecember last year have been deprived of retirement benefits nor has any case been withdrawn. On the other hand, the harassment of Telangana employees has been on the rise, forcing them to launch the agitation again,'' Swamy Goud said. The TEJAC is also demanding tabling of a bill on separate Telangana in Parliament and unconditional withdrawal of cases registered against employees who participated in the Telangana agitation.

Telangana NGOs sound strike threat

HYDERABAD: Telangana NGOs on Friday submitted a strike notice to the state government over their demand that steps be taken to honour promises made during the Sakala Janula Samme campaign. K Swamy Goud, TNGOs' association president has announced a phase-wise agitation programme beginning February 21.

In the first phase, 4 lakh government employees will hold lunch-hour protests in their offices and, from March 5, start a 'work to rule' protest.

BJP wants Bill on separate Telangana moved in budget session

Alleging that Congress has been "deceiving" people on separateTelangana issue, BJP today said theUPA government should move a Bill on the formation of the state in the coming budget session of the Parliament.

Addressing a public meeting organised at the Nizam College Grounds on the conclusion of 24-day 'Telangana Poru Yatra' (struggle for Telangana), former BJP President M Venkaiah Naidu said the Congress party should have "political will" to bring the Bill for separate Telangana.

Naidu alleged that Congress has been trying to deceive the people of the region by not keeping its promise, which it gave to people in 2004 elections, while having an alliance with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

Stating that his party was supporting the Telangana movement right from the beginning, Naidu blamed other political parties, including Congress and TDP, in "failing" to make their stand clear on issue so far.

"If the UPA government tables a Bill, the BJP would definitely support it, as his party has always been in favour of smaller states," he said.

Naidu said the 'Telangana Poru Yatra', undertaken by state party president G Kishan Reddy in Telangana districts, was successful and support of the people was tremendous.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, who was the chief guest of the meeting, extended full support to the Telangana movement.

Blaming the Centre for "ignoring people's aspirations" Singh asserted that smaller states would enable speedy development and providing good governance.

Citing the development of Chhattisgarh state, Raman Singh claimed that his state has 11.4 per cent GDP growth rate, which is higher than the national GDP rate.

Addressing the meeting, Kishan Reddy said people were looking forward to BJP for Telangana and they have realised that this is the only party, which can achieve separate statehood.

Reddy warned Congress that the people would teach it a lesson in the 2014 elections if it failed to meet the demand of people of the region.

Former BJP national president Bangaru Laxman, former union minister Bandaru Dattatreya, Telangana JAC leaders Kodandaram and Swami Goud were also present on the occasion.

TRS to press for bill favouring Telangana in budget session

Hyderabad, Feb 10 (PTI) The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) has taken a decision to press for the introduction of a bill favouring formation of separate Telangana in the Budget session of Andhra Pradesh Assembly beginning February 13. Speaking to reporters tonight after a joint meeting of its Legislature Party and politbureau, TRS president K Chandrasekhara Rao said, the party would move a bill, if the government did not come forward to introduce it. The party, which has 11 members in the assembly, would try to stall the house over its demand for a pro-Telangana bill in the assembly. The TRS MLAs would boycott the Governor's address to the assembly as he is the representative of the Centre in the state, he said. The Centre had failed to honour its commitment to form separate Telangana, he said. The party would raise the issues concerning Telangana like the police cases against Telangana students, the non-implementation of the promises made to pro-Telangana employees, among others. The TRS president expressed support to the pro-Telangana employees of Andhra Pradesh government, who announced that they will take up agitation again in protest of the "non-implementation of the promises made to them during the prolonged strike last year".

Pro-Telangana AP govt employees threaten agitation

HYDERABAD: Alleging that the promises made to them during last year's strike have not been fulfilled, the pro-Telangana employees of Andhra Pradesh government today threatened to take up an agitation once again.

The pro-Telangana employees held the strike for over 40 days last year in support of the separate statehood demand among others.

Telangana employees plan protests

HYDERABAD: The Telangana Employees Joint Action Committee is preparing for another round of agitation for Telangana state. The committee met at the TNGO's office on Tuesday and decided to serve a notice on the government on Thursday indicating their course of agitation. The employees are demanding that the government honour the assurances to employees after the latter called off the Samme.

Kiran gets Delhi nod to fill 3 Telangana berths

HYDERABAD: Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy’s wish to reshuffle his cabinet may remain a dream at least for the time being.
The central leadership of the party has reportedly allowed him to limit the expansion of his cabinet to induction of three legislators from the Telangana region, contrary to the impression given to him when it asked him to induct two PRP legislators last month.
At the moment, the party has reportedly given Kiran Kumar Reddy the go-ahead to fill three vacancies from Telangana caused by the resignation of Jupalli Krishna Rao and Komatireddy Venkata Reddy and sacking of P Shankar Rao.
The swearingin is likely to happen on February 9, considered an auspicious day.
The chief minister, sources said, wants to fill the vacancies with Capt N Uttam Kumar Reddy (Huzurnagar), Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka (Madhira) and MLC K Premsagar Rao (Adilabad) where a byelection is due.
The district is not represented in the cabinet now.
The chief minister is also considering promoting Kondru Murali Mohan, who is a whip now, as chief whip and appoint in his place Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy.
As there is a provision to have another whip, the chief minister is proposing PRP MLA Vanga Geetha’s name for it.
The chief minister, who met Sonia Gandhi on Sunday evening for the second time in as many days, put forth his request for total reconstitution of the cabinet since he wanted to have his own team.
The chief minister has been stressing, with central leaders, the need for a team that is different from the present one which is basically the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s.
As his performance would be judged by how he is going to handle byelections in the state and how he will prepare the party for the 2014 elections, the chief minister wants to have people who have allegiance to the party and to himself 
But the party leadership does not look at the situation through Kiran Kumar Reddy’s eyes.
As cabinet reconstitution is always followed by large scale dissent.
it is worried over how the party would be able to fare in the byelections in future.
But sources said Kiran Kumar Reddy is understood to have told Ghulam Nabi Azad, whom he met on Sunday afternoon, that it was time for the party to act a little boldly and face the challenge.
The chief minister went to Delhi on Saturday and, after a marathon meeting with Ghulam Nabi Azad, he met Sonia Gandhi for a brief while.
His meeting with Azad on Sunday lasted more than two hours.
He is understood to have expressed his fear that if reconstitution is not allowed this time also, it would send signals to his “adversaries” in cabinet.

‘Telangana movement to resume after March’

MANCHERIAL (ADILABAD): In a fresh bid aimed at dousing the anger of pro-Telangana activists, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K Chandrashekar Rao said the movement for separate Telangana would be intensified after March.

Addressing the party workers' meeting at Mancherial in Adilabad district ton Sunday, KCR said the agitation for separate T-state is being delayed keeping in view of the students' examinations. "The movement would pick up pace in April in pursuit of separate T-state demand," he said.

Pro-Telangana Congmen scuttle CM’s pet project

HYDERABAD, Feb 4, 2012, DHNS:

The growing rift between Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and the Telangana protagonists within the ruling Congress appears to have reached a flashpoint.

Pro-Telangana leaders delivered a big blow to the chief minister by successfully scuttling the launch of his pet scheme Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu, an employment programme for the youth. 

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was to visit the state on Saturday to formally launch the scheme and hand over appointment letters to the beneficiaries. 

However, the Telangana region leaders had shot off a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office, saying the scheme was “ill-conceived and misleading” and was only a ploy to promote the chief minister’s personal image. 

Peddapalli MP G Viveka­nand, who is the son of former Union minister G Venkata­swamy, wrote to the prime minister, saying the scheme was only an exercise in “window-dressing”.

Vivekanand along with his colleagues had urged the prime minister to cancel his trip. 
It was later announced that the launch of the programme has been postponed.
Under the scheme, over 800 training centres have been set up across the state to provide training for unemployed youths in the private sector. 

However, Kiran’s critics within the party point out that there was nothing in the scheme for the government to take credit.

“The government is not providing any jobs. The training will make the youth eligible for some lower-level postings in private sector units. It is essentially a training programme being wrongly projected as a job creation scheme,” the MP said.

The Telangana protagonists also raised objections over the way Kiran was resorting to “self-promotion” by christening the scheme in such a way that it contains his name.

 “This has adversely affected the image of the Congress and the state government,” Vivekanand said.

He also pointed out that a majority of the jobs being offered under the scheme were in the unorganized sector or small scale units such as cotton ginning units, stone crushers, raw rice mills, seed processing units, brick kilns, sanitation, plumbing and electrical works, besides petty service sector jobs such as hotel management or computer data-processing.