Amid indications that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government may backtrack on its commitment to carve Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh, the Congress legislators from the region have threatened to resign.
As the sources in the Congress hinted that a statement expected to be made by the government Wednesday night would rule out moving a resolution on Telangana in the state assembly, there is a mood of celebration in coastal Andhra and Rayalseema regions.
The two regions have been witnessing violent protests for nearly two weeks against the Dec 9 announcement by the central government to initiate the process for the formation of Telangana.
As the central leadership of the Congress gave indications that nothing would be done to bifurcate the state without consensus, its leaders in the two regions called off their hunger strike.
This included party legislators Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy, brother of late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.
However, the Congress leaders from Telangana have reacted strongly.
Party legislator C. Muthyam Reddy warned that all the legislators from the region would resign if the government backtracked.
Congress legislators from the region began a meeting here to decide their strategy.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao went into a huddle with party leaders to chalk out his future course of action. Rao has already warned of "bloodbath" if the government backtracked.
Chief Minister K. Rosaiah called an emergency cabinet meeting Wednesday to review the situation. The legislators of main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) were also holding a separate meeting.
The student leaders of Osmania University and Kakatiya University too began a meeting to discuss the developments.
It was after an 11-day hunger strike by TRS chief that the centre on Dec 9 had announced that the process for formation of Telangana would be initiated.
The announcement triggered a political crisis in the state with 140 legislators from coastal Andhra and Rayalseema regions, cutting across party lines, submitting their resignations to the speaker.
State ministers and MPs had also threatened to quit. Several leaders went on indefinite hunger strike while massive protests had brought normal life to a standstill in 13 districts of the two regions.
Telangana is a region of Andhra Pradesh state in India. The name means "land of Telugus". It comprises of the Telugu speaking parts of the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad. The region lies on the Deccan plateau to the west of the Eastern Ghats range, and includes the northwestern interior districts of Warangal, Adilabad, Khammam, Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda, Rangareddy, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Medak, and the state capital, Hyderabad. The Krishna and Godavari rivers flow through the region from west to east.
On December 9, 2009, the Government of India announced that the process for the formation of Telangana will be initiated upon introduction and passage of a separation statement by the state assembly of AP.
