Lagadapati Calls for Referendum

Maverick Vijayawada MP, Lagadapati Rajgopal had called for a Referendum throughout the state to decide which district would want to separate. He also claimed that not more than 10% would like to separate. He spoke to press persons on Wednesday (6th January) at his house in New Delhi. He said that he had independently conducted a survey throughout the state.

First of all, was referendum conducted when Hyderabad State (Telangana) was merged with Andhra State ?? NO. Then, why are the politicians now talking about referendum ?? Referendum is completely ruled out.


How feasible is another State Re-Organization Committee (SRC)?? 1st SRC was completely against the merger of Hyderabad State and Andhra State but still due to the pressure from Andhra Politicians at that time, the merger took place. What is the guarantee the same would not happen again ?? Can we trust Andhra politicians who are well known in breaking it ?? NO.

Only solution before us is a peaceful formation of Telangana State with Hyderabad as its capital. Hyderabad was the capital of erstwhile Nizam state and so, by default, it should be the capital of Telangana State. Hyderabad is itself in the heart of Telangana and so, there is no question of making it a Union Territory or Combined Capital City.

All Hyderabadis, irrespective of whether they are from Telangana or Andhra would still be Hyderabadis. Either KCR nor Lagadapati can change that. The only change is that Hyderabad would be the capital of Telangana State.

Meeting on Telangana

In a bid to find a way out of the Telangana imbroglio, the Centre on Wednesday convened a meeting in New Delhi on January 5 of 8 recognised political parties in Andhra Pradesh for a discussion on the issue.

P Chidambaram sent an invitation to the leaders of the 8 parties following his December 23 statement in which he had promised to hold wide ranging consultations with all political parties and groups in the state on the issue of separate Telangana state.

The Congress, TDP, Telangana Rashtra Samiti, CPI, CPI(M), Praja Rajyam, BJP and MIM are the recognised parties in Andhra Pradesh.

The Centre's decision comes after detailed discussions in the government and at the highest political level in Congress party in the last few days after political parties were divided on regional lines in Andhra Pradesh and demanded immediate steps on formation of the separate state.

Yesterday, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao said he was prepared for talks but would not accept setting up of any committee on the issue which, he considered, would be a waste of time.

Parties and leaders from Telangana cited the statement of Chidambaram on December 9 in which he had promised that that the process of forming Telangana state would be initiated.

JAC Welcomes Meet:

The Joint Action Committee of political parties spearheading the campaign for separate Telangana today hailed the Centre's decision to hold a meeting of political parties in Delhi but would like to know its "scope and purpose".

"The decision to hold talks is a step forward. But we would like to know the scope and purpose of the exercise. We can''t give a final assessment until we know that," JAC convener Prof. Kodandaram told reporters.

He was reacting to the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram''s invitation to leaders of 8 recognised parties from Andhra Pradesh in Delhi on Jan 5 to discuss the Telangana imbroglio.

Kodandaram said the JAC would discuss the Centre''s invitation and take a decision. "But we will continue with our agitation," he said.

Vijayawada MP surfaces in Hyderabad

In a direct challenge to Telangana Movement, Vijayawada Member of Parliament, Lagadapati Rajagopal surfaces in the Nizams Institute for Medical Sciences (NIMS) here at Hyderabad.

This irresponsible act of the Member of Parliament is going to further deteriorate the prevailing law and order situation in the state and mainly in the capital, Hyderabad.


A multi millionaire industrialist, Lagadapati Rajgopal (sitting Congress MP from Vijayawada) gave a skip to Police yesterday at Vijayawada accusing that he is not receiving proper medical care and wanted to join NIMS in Hyderabad.
He walked down two floors and got onto to a car that was waiting for him. I wonder how can a person who is on fast past 4-5 days can walk down two floors and also concerned about his health.

He said in numerous press conferences that he would be ready to die for a Unified Andhra Pradesh. But, suddenly he got concerned for his health and could able to walk down two floors. That kept me thinking what all he was eating while doing fast.

After the declaration of a separate Telangana State, the focus shifted to the huge violence in Andhra areas that already cost the state hundreds of crores. With Rajgopal surfacing in Hyderabad, the focus is back in Hyderabad.

10 days back, when Rajgopal wanted to start his fast in Hyderabad, the Police spirited him away to Vijayawada to thwart any violence due to his presence in Hyderabad. That time, TRS and BJP politicians forced the government to move him out of Telangana.

Let's see what happens now.


Lagadapati was the person who in his 2004 General Elections Nomination Papers has said that he is a father of two despite the fact that he is father of three children. This has created quite a stir at that time.

There were allegations that Lanco Infratech had cheated United India Insurance and New India Assurance, in its works with the Andhra Pradesh Health, Medical Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority took up the case to probe into the irregularities committed by the two insurance companies to favour the Lanco group.

Congress Agrees for Telangana

It is a great day in the history of Telangana. KCR's Fast onto death has it's effect on the Congress party high command.

Central Government agrees for the creation of a separate Telangana State. Celebrations throughout Telangana regions including Hyderabad. The process of the formation of Telangana would start shortly after placing a bill in the State Assembly and then in the Parliament.

Tomorrow's "Chalo Assembly" has been converted into a Victory Parade. Now, the most important things have to be sorted out. Some politicians are demanding that Hyderabad made a separate state / Union Territory but we should not allow such things to happen.


Anyways, it is not the right time for such things. First of all, we got Telangana State.

As India got its Independence midnight, similarly, Telangana got its Independence midnight.

It is 1AM on 10th December 2009. Let me kick the bed with fresh hopes and thoughts for a Economically Developed Telangana.

History of Telangana

The issue of a separate statehood for the Telangana region in the state of Andhra Pradesh has suddenly arisen from the ashes with the fast onto death "satyagraha" by the President of Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Mr. K Chandra Sekhar Rao (popularly known as KCR) reaching 9th day today.


His Son, K.Taraka Rama Rao (named after our famous former Chief Minister, N T Rama Rao) says that his father's health is critical but stable.

Why had KCR suddenly started the indefinite fast onto death ?

Till now, the only person who was against the formation of Telangana state was our former chief minister, Mr.Y.S.Rajasekhar Reddy. He recently died in a helicopter crash in the Nallamala forest. With the elimination of YSR, the chances of getting a separate state has increased. This is one main reason why KCR had started the fast.

From the beginning, YSR was against Telangana as he felt that his powers would be limited only to a very small area of the state. He would lose his bargaining power in the Congress Party.
He cultivated a group of Telangana legislators in his own party who are against the formation of Telangana for their own personal reasons. He used these legislators in fighting against those who were strongly supporting Telangana in his party.
Congress had fought elections in alliance with TRS on several occasions and even going to the extent of supporting a separate state in their manifesto. But Congress ditched TRS and also the people of Telangana and never took the issue forward.

How many districts are there in Telangana ?

Here is a list of the districts that form Telangana:
* Adilabad
* Nizamabad
* Karimnagar
* Warangal
* Khammam
* Medak
* Hyderabad
* Ranga Reddy
* Nalgonda
* Mahaboobnagar

Hyderabad City is completely surrounded by the Ranga Reddy District and the nearest border to Andhra is around 150 Kilometers away.

How many districts are there in Andhra?

Here is a list of the districts that form Andhra:


* Srikakulam
* Vizianagaram
* Vishakhapatnam
* East Godavari
* West Godavari
* Krishna
* Guntur
* Prakasam
* Nellore

How many districts are there in Raayalaseema?

Here is a list of the districts that form Raayalaseema:


* Kurnool
* Ananthapur
* Kadapa
* Chittoor

Entire Andhra Pradesh is as big as England and all the three regions of of the state namely, Telangana, Andhra and Raayalaseema are backward. It is more than 50 years since Andhra State and Hyderabad State were merged to form Andhra Pradesh and all the three regions are backward. Is the merger worth ??

Is it not better if we split to out original areas and see how we can develop all the three regions ? The experimentation of a combined state flopped and why not try another experiment by splitting up ??

Formation of Andhra State:

The great Gandhian, Amarajeevi Potti Sri Ramulu went on a fast onto death in Madras(presently Chennai) demanding a separate state for Telugus to be carved out of Madras State where Tamil is spoken.

In an effort to unify the Telugu people, and preserve the unique culture of Telugu people, he attempted to force the government to listen to public demands for the unification of Andhra based on linguistic lines. He went on a lengthy fast, and only stopped when Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru promised to support unification.

However, there was no movement on the issue for a long time. He started fasting again for attaining statehood for Andhra in Maharshi Bulusu Sambamurthy’s house in Madras on 19 October 1952. It started off without fanfare but steadily caught people’s imagination despite the disavowal of the fast by the Andhra Congress committee.

The government of the day however did not make a clear statement about the formation of a new state despite several strikes and demonstrations by Telugu people. On the midnight of 15 December (i.e. early 16 December 1952), Potti Sreeramulu died and laid down his life trying to achieve his objective.

In his death procession, people shouted slogans praising his sacrifice. When the procession reached Mount Road, thousands of people joined and raised slogans hailing Sriramulu. Later, they went into a frenzy and resorted to destruction of public property.

The news spread like wildfire and created an uproar among the people in far off places like Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Eluru, Guntur, Tenali, Ongole and Nellore. Seven people were killed in police firing in Anakapalle and Vijayawada. The popular agitation continued for three to four days disrupting normal life in Madras and Andhra regions. On 19 December, the Prime minister of the country Jawaharlal Nehru made an announcement about formation of a separate state.

On 1 October 1953, the state of Andhra was established with Kurnool as capital carving it out from Madras State. However, the Telangana region existed prior as a separate state before merging with Andhra state. On November 1, 1956, Telangana was merged with Andhra and as a result Andhra Pradesh was formed with Hyderabad as its capital, against the States Reorganization Commission Report (SRC).


Kerala and Karnataka states were formed the same day in 1956, followed by Gujarat and Maharashtra in 1960. The formation of linguistic states is the single most important event in the history of South Indian languages, as it provided an opportunity for these languages to develop independently, each of them having a state to support.

While Sri Potti Sriramulu has done a great sacrifice to achieve Andhra state from Madras Presidency, its noteworthy for the readers to understand that at that time, Telangana existed as a separate state and his efforts were mislead to the layman's understanding that he sacrificed his life for the formation of the present Andhra Pradesh.

Andhra Pradesh is formed based on linguistic base and that is when Hyderabad State (Burgula Ramakrisha Rao, Chief Minister for Hyderabad State from 17 September 1948 till merged in Andhra Pradesh) is merged.

Potti Sriramulu fasted in the heart of Madras (Chennai) city for over 58 days for an Andhra state with Madras as the capital. He described "Andhra without Madras as a dead body without a head. The reasons as to why the Rajaji government, Union government led by Nehru or police did not intervene to force feed or shift him to a hospital remain unclear.

History of Telangana:

The meaning of Telangana literally means "Land of Telugus". The Telugu language originated in Telangana.

Telangana region was mentioned in the Mahabharata as the Telinga Kingdom which said to be inhabited by the tribe known as Telavana and said to have fought on the Pandava side in the great war of Mahabharata. It is also evident from the fact that there is Pandavula Guhalu in warangal district(wherein Pandavas spent their life in exile (Lakkha Gruham)).

And, in Treta yuga, it is believed that Lord Sri Rama along with his consort Sita Devi and brother Lakshmana, spent their life in exile at Parnashala on the banks of Godavari river which is about 25 km from Bhadrachalam in Khammam District of Telangana.


India became independent from the British Empire in 1947. The Nizam of Hyderabad wanted to retain his independence, but the Indian Government amalgamated his state of Hyderabad by force on September 17, 1948 after the successful execution of Operation Polo by the Indian Army. When India became independent, the Telugu-speaking people (although Urdu is spoken in some parts of Telangana districts) were distributed in about 22 districts; 9 of them in the Telangana region of Nizam's Dominions (Hyderabad State), 12 in the Madras Presidency and one in French-controlled Yanam.

Social conditions then immediately after independence were drastically opposite in Telangana and the Costal andhra districts and to a some extent, when compared to Rayalaseema.

Being under Tyrannical,feudalistic,oppressive and religiously discriminative regime and years long of brutal oppression and cultural abuses by the Nizam and also due to constant fighting in the latter years of the Nizam rule, education, awareness and lingo(accent in some parts, especially Hyderabad) to an extent were seriously effected.Only after Telangana's Liberation, people felt they were safe after years living as second grade citizens under Nizam.

Where as in Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema being under British rule enjoyed freedom to some extent than the Telangana people.They were educated and were generally more aware of whatsoever in the society.Under the British, they benefited by the development which the British had done to the region by laying roads , promoting education by the universities and colleges, reservoirs like Cotton Barrage, Prakasam Barrage and also are the language and cultural development by the likes of Charles Philip Brown, Campbell, Galletti, and reformers like Veereshalingam Panthulu etc.

They enjoyed religious freedom and cultural freedom except political freedom. The poor Telangana Telugus suffered a lot from cultural, linguistic and religious and political freedom, where Urdu was taught forcefully at schools( though they are very few schools as such), Islam was the state religion and Muslims were considered as masters over the other religions, religious freedom was almost nil, worst form of feudalism being prominent in Nizam state and literally no efforts in social and cultural reformation as in Rest of India.

Under these antipathetic and violent conditions ,the people were defensive and were Ignorant when compared to the outside world. ( Though after Operation Polo, Muslims of Nizam state suffered violent backlash of religious violence when many of the innocent Muslim families were killed or went missing. Most of the events took place in Marathi speaking areas and in a couple of Kannada speaking areas of the Nizam rule. In the Marathi speaking areas the revolt was led by AryaSamaj, a Hindu reformist organization. In Telangana, this was led by Communists and so didn't witness such violent backlash.)


Meanwhile Telugu speaking areas were carved out of erstwhile Madras state by popular agitation by the then leaders like Potti Sri Ramulu etc.

Merger of Telangana and Andhra

In December 1953, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru appointed the States Reorganization Commission to prepare for the creation of states on linguistic lines. This was headed by Justice Fazal Ali and the commission itself was also known as the Fazal Ali Commission. The efforts of this commission was overseen by Govind Ballabh Pant, who served as Home Minister from December 1954. The commission created a report in 1955 recommending the reorganization of India's states.


The States Reorganization Commission (SRC) was not in favour of merging the Telangana region with the then Andhra state. Para 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 concerns of Telanganas were manifold. 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 Telanganas feared might be diverted for use in Andhra. They also feared that planned dam projects on the Krishna and Godavari rivers would not benefit Telangana proportionately even though Telanganas controlled the headwaters of the rivers. Telanganas feared too that the people of Andhra would have the advantage in jobs, particularly in government and education.


Para 386 of States Reorganization Commission Report (SRC) said "After taking all these factors into consideration we have come to the conclusions that it will be in the interests of Andhra as well as Telangana area is to constitute into a separate State, which may be known as the Hyderabad State with provision for its unification with Andhra after the general elections likely to be held in or about 1961 if by a two thirds majority the legislature of the residency Hyderabad State expresses itself in favor of such unification."

However, the Congress party was strong in Andhra than in Telangana because the Nizam who ruled till then did not allow Congress activities in Telangana. The strong Congress lobby in Andhra lobbied with central congress leadership for the merger. So, the central government decided to ignore the SRC recommendations and established unified Andhra Pradesh on November 1, 1956. However, a "Gentleman's agreement" provided reassurances to the Telangana people as well to Andhra people in terms of power sharing as well as administrative domicile rules and distribution of expenses of various regions.


At the time of merging parts of Hyderabad State, with Andhra, and forming Andhra Pradesh state, Hyderabad State had an excess revenue due to alcohol excise duty, and The Indian government confiscated enormous wealth accumulated by Nizams provided the resources in creation of larger state.

Separate Telangana state movement:

In the following years after the formation of Andhra Pradesh state, however, the Telangana people had a number of complaints about 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 Jai Telangana movement, led to widespread violence and deaths of hundreds of people and students of this Telangana region. Approximately 360 students gave their lives in this movement.


Although the Congress faced dissension within its ranks, its leadership stood against additional linguistic states, which were regarded as "anti-national." 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 disgust of many separatists, rejoined the safer political haven of the Congress ranks.

Geography, Culture & Identity of Telangana:

Of the three regions of the state, Telangana has the largest area, with 1,14,800 km2.The Telangana plateau is composed of Archean Gneissic rocks and drained by Godavari and Krishna rivers. The entire region is divided into two main regions namely ghats and peneplains. The surface is dotted with low depressions.


Centuries of independent existence has given Telangana its own distinctive culture and identity. The Telugu language spoken here has evolved into a new dialect with a liberal mixture of words from Urdu. Festivals: Eid al-Adha (Bakr Eid), Dassera, Eid-ul-Fitr and Ugadi are prominent festivals in Telangana. The region celebrates distinctive festivals like Bathukamma, and Bonalu. The other festivals, such as, Deepawali, Holi, Moharram and Vinayaka chaturthi 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.

Note: Please find the recommendations of the SRC in Image formats on the right. This proves that despite opposition from Telangana people, Hyderabad State (Telangana) is forcefully merged along with Andhra State to form Andhra Pradesh.

Resources: Wikipedia

Will Devender Goud Join BJP ??

This is just a theory that went through my mind today morning while going through the news paper.

Telugu Desam Party senior leader from Telangana Region and Number Two in the party, Mr. Devender Goud resigned from the primary membership of the party and also from his assembly segment - Medchal yesterday on the issue of separate Telangana State. While the party's strategy has always been wait and watch, this leader from Telangana Region could not able to wait more time and risk his political future and was forced to resign from TDP, a party formed on the basis of "Samaikya Andhra Pradesh" (Combined AP).

Will Goud start a new political party or join an existing one ? And, how many more leaders from TDP belonging to Telangana Region are going to join him and fight for a separate state ? These are some of the questions going through political parties. His resignation is bound to affect other political parties too. TDP was always strong in Telangana Region. With the recent shocking by-election results where in TRS lost chunk of its assembly seats, political parties started feeling that Telangana Sentiment is not there in people. But it is not the case. People have Telangana sentiment but they gave thumbs down to TRS only because of the poor performance record of their candidates. During the run up to the elections, TDP became soft for Telangana cause agreeing to the fact that "Telangana sentiment" is there but once elections are finished, they reverted back to their stated claim of a "Samaikya Andhra Pradesh".

Devender Goud is the the only notable voice raising Telangana issue in TDP - a political party ruled autocratically by Chandra Babu Naidu. The about turn in the policy after elections hurt Goud and since then he kept on giving statements on Telangana.


Now, coming back to the issue of Devender Goud joining BJP. There are already many political parties in the state and forming a new party would only give a fractured verdict in the elections paving way for horse trading during Government formation. Telangana Rashtra Samithi(TRS) is formed by K Chandra Sekhar Rao who as Devender Goud came out of TDP aspiring for separate Telangana state. Goud would not join TRS as their attitude and their policies are quite different from Goud's. He would not join Congress Party for obvious reasons as TDP is formed just to oppose Congress Party. He would not join the Communists nor Loksatta as they dont have much hold in the state.Megastar Chiranjeevi's political party is still a non-starter to join it. Moreover, Goud would be a too big leader to join in any of these parties which are centered around one person.

So, only other alternative is BJP. BJP is strong in Telangana regions and also, TDP earlier supported the BJP Central Government in New Delhi. So, BJP is not a bad choice for Devender Goud.

Anyways, we got to see whether he is contemplating on joining a political party or wants to start a new party. Time would only tell. But with Devender Goud's exit, TDP suffered a severe setback and it would affect their chances to form a future government in the state.

Devender Goud Resigns - Severe Jolt to TDP

In a severe jolt to Telugu Desam Party (TDP), its mascot in Telangana Region and Polit Bureau Member, T. Devender Goud resigned from the party. He tendered his resignation to the TDP Supremo, Nara Chandrababu Naidu and to State Assembly Speaker, Suresh Reddy.

Goud, widely seen as number two in the party hierarchy and a strong votary of Telangana statehood cause, sent his resignation letter to party president N Chandrababu Naidu.

Devender Goud represents the Medchal Assembly Segment which is in the Ranga Reddy District - around 30KM from Hyderabad. The former minister had, off late, emerged a rallying point for protagonists of separate Telangana state within the TDP.

Goud's resignation came as a jolt to TDP, which has traditionally opposed division of the state. Bowing to pressure from a section of pro-Telangana leaders, the TDP had recently constituted a five-member committee to go into the issue and take feedback from the cadre. Goud is also a member of the committee.

Other TDP leaders from Telangana Region are planning to follow Devender Goud.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, Naidu was saying that they would take decision on Telangana at a "Right Time", which never came nor would come.

Need to see who all the leaders that are planning to follow Devender Goud and what would be their impact in the next state assemble elections in 2009. With too many political parties, the results would be fragmented and since no political party would be able to cobble together a majority, there would be lot of chances for horse trading.

With Devender Goud's exit, TDP faces a very very bleak future in Telangana Region.