Muslims will play a big part in Telangana state

Contrary to belief, the Muslim community has come out in support of the movement for the formation of a separate Telangana state. Muslims in the Telangana region feel that all these years they have been treated as outsiders in their own place and believe that once the state is formed, a lot of their problems will be solved.

The community claim that as they are the main sufferers in a united state, the time has come to speak up and be heard collectively. Leading the movement in Hyderabad is Lateef Mohammad Khan, chief of the Muslim Forum For Telangana, who says that they are fed up of being branded as ISI agents and rowdy-sheeters.

In an interview to rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, Khan speaks extensively about the role Muslims want to play and how their lives would change once Telangana is formed.

We thought Muslims were opposed to the formation of Telangana. What happened? Why has that stand changed?
We have not changed our stand. Our stand was always for a separate Telangana. It was just a propaganda being floated by late chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy that the Muslims were opposing Telangana's formation.

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Thaneeru Harish Rao

Thaneeru Harish Rao (born 3 June 1972) is an Indian politician belonging to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi. He represents Siddipet Assembly constituency.
Now he is Cabinet Minister for Irrigation, Marketing & Legislative Affairs.

Early life

Harish Rao was born in Siddipet, Medak District to Satyanarayana Rao and Laxmi Bai. He is the nephew of TRS party chief K. Chandrashekhar Rao. He did his Bachelor of Arts in Siddipet. On June 2nd 2014 he became the minister for first ever Telangana Government.

Political career

Harish Rao was elected from the Siddipet Assembly constituency in 2004 at the age of 32, after the seat was vacated by K. Chandrashekhar Rao who had won both the Siddipet Assembly and Karimnagar Parliamentary seat in the 2004 General Elections. Harish Rao who just then completed his studies had directly forayed into politics by involving in Telangana agitation.

After the TRS legislators resigned from their Assembly seats in 2008, protesting the delay in the

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Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao

Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao (Telugu : కల్వకుంట్ల తారక రామారావు ) (born 24 July 1976) is an Indian politician and present Member of Legislative Assembly for Siricilla Assembly Constituency, representing the Telangana Rashtra Samithi.He won state Assembly Elections 2009, 2014 for TRS party in Siricilla Constituency.Currently he is serving as the Cabinet Minister for Panchayat Raj & IT, Telangana State.

Early life

K. T. Rama Rao was born in Siddipet and he is the son of K. Chandrashekhar Rao founder of Telangana Rashtra Samithi. He has completed his schooling from St. George's Grammar school, Hyderabad. He has a Bachelors Degree in Microbiology from Nizam college. KTR has two post-graduate degrees, one is M.Sc in Biotechnology from University of Pune and the other is MBA in Marketing & E-commerce from Baruch College-City University of New York.Later he worked as Regional Sales Director at INTTRA from 2001 to 2006.He has a younger sister K. Kavitha who is a political activist and honourable member of parliament from Nizambad constituency.

Political Career

Ever since he moved to India, KTR started taking interest in party affairs and played an active role. He joined the TRS party full-time in the year 2006. After joining the party he has actively participated in numerous programs to ensure that the Telangana issue was represented well at the national level.He actively participated in the Telangana movement from 2009 to 2014. In the 2014 election, he was elected to the Telangana State assembly from Sircilla constituency inTelangana. He has been inducted

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Telangana Movement 2012

In January, BJP led by State party president Kishan Reddy started the 22-day Telangana 'Poru Yatra', across 88 assembly constituencies stressing the need for Telangana stance.Though the tour was successful in reiterating the party's pro-Telangana stance, it could not garner as much support as hoped because of the indifferent attitude of the TRS & TJAC. In fact the failure of the TRS in declaring its support to Kishan Reddy’s yatra has resulted in growing differences between the two parties.

Bye elections took place on 18 March in 6 Telangana assembly seats. TRS won 4 out of 5 seats it contested with huge majorities ranging from 15,024 to 44,465. In 2 out of the 4 seats won by TRS (Kamareddy & Adilabad), the TRS candidates polled less number of votes compared to 2009 assembly elections when they contested as candidates from TDP which was in alliance with TRS.Ex-TDP MLA Nagam Janardhan Reddy won from Nagarkurnool seat as an independent with TJAC support. Congress lost deposit in one constituency and TDP in 3 constituencies.

Bye-polls were conducted for 18 Assembly seats and 1 Parliament seat on 12 June. The YSRCP won 15 assembly seats and the lone Parliament seat in Seema-Andhra region. TRS's candidate managed to win the Parkal seat with a slender majority of 1562 votes over YSRCP candidate Konda Surekha. TDP finished third after polling 30,000 votes and retained its deposit. Both BJP & Congress lost their deposits.In September 2012, Sushilkumar Shinde, the newly appointed Home minister of India commented that the Telangana demand needs to be handled carefully since similarly carved smaller states saw increased Naxal problems.Addressing a public meeting in Nizamabad district, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi said that formation of a separate Telangana state is not possible and reaffirmed his party's stand on the issue. He also said that Muslims would not accept a separate state.

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Telangana Movement 2013

2013 Witnessed more protest by the TJAC including blockade of the road blockade of NH 7 in Mahbubnagar district. Public property was destroyed.This year also witnessed protest by 5 Congress MPs for 48 hours at the entrance of the Indian Parliament.

Leaders from various political parties joined TRS in support of the movement.

Chalo Assembly

In May 2013, the TJAC gave a call to lay siege to the state legislative Assembly in Hyderabad on 14 June 2013 to demand the formation of Telangana. Government refused permission to the march as they had information that anti-social elements might participate in the event and cause violence like in previous events of Sagara Haram and Million March where violence erupted despite promises made by the TJAC. Police made pre-emptive arrests of activists through the region which led do stalling of the assembly proceedings by opposition parties.The chief minister directed the Director-General of Police at a high-level review meeting not to use even rubber bullets in their efforts and observe utmost restraint in maintaining law and order. Amid fear of violence by Naxalites after an open letter claimed to have been written by them on the rally,police sounded a high alert across the state and almost sealed all the arterial roads leading to the Assembly. Over 25,000 policemen belonging to both central and state security forces were deployed. The TJAC leaders alleged that the government has been using repressive measures to prevent them from representing the aspirations of Telangana people in a peaceful manner.Educational institutions declared a holiday and public transport went off the roads and shops and establishments shut as a precautionary measure.

On the day of the event in spite of the restrictions placed, police could not totally prevent Telangana activists from sneaking into prime locations and making a vain bid to rush towards the Assembly.Hundreds of people including state legislators, JAC Chaiman and other leaders were arrested across the city. Osmania University campus witnessed pitched battles as police closed the campus gate to stop students leaving campus in a rally then resorted to tear gas shelling when student started stone pelting. After the march, the TJAC Chairman remarked that their goal to reach Assembly complex and highlight their demand was fulfilled.

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Non-cooperation movement and Million March 2011

Non-cooperation movement and Million March

On 17 February 2011, a noncooperation movement was started which lasted for 16 days with participation by 300,000 government employees. It caused a loss of Rs 8 billion per day in revenue to government.In February and March, Assembly session was boycotted for weeks and Parliament session was disrupted for several days by Telangana representatives.

Million March was organised by Telangana JAC in Hyderabad on 10 March 2010. In a move to disrupt the march, police arrested over thousand activists throughout the region and closed down entry to Hyderabad city by stopping certain transportation services and diverting traffic.Around 50,000 people reached the venue of the march, Tank Bund by hoodwinking police.Telangana activists damaged 16 statues of personalities representing Telugu culture language and threw some of the remnants into the lake.

In November 2011, Telangana Rashtra Samiti Vidyarthi Vibhagam (TRSV) state president Balki Suman was arrested by Hyderabad police after cases were registered against him in connection with damaging statues on Tank Bund during the 'Million March,' attacking police personnel, damaging police and media vehicles.

Mass movement

From April till June, the movement saw a lull,with different parties citing various reasons and fresh deadlines to renew the agitation. In July, 81 of 119 Telangana MLAs in the state, 12 out of 15 Telangana ministers in state, 13 out of 17 Telangana MPs in Lok Sabha, 1 Rajyasabha MP (Congress), 20 MLCs resigned protesting delay in the formation of Telangana. On 30 July 20-year-old Yadi Reddy was found dead 100 yards from Parliament House in Delhi

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Bifurcation announcement & rollback

Bifurcation announcement 

On 9 December 2009, Union Minister of Home Affairs P. Chidambaram announced that the Indian government would start the process of forming a separate Telangana state, pending the introduction and passage of a separation resolution in the Andhra Pradesh assembly. This resulted in protests across both Andhra and Rayalseema. Students, workers, lawyers & various organizations in the regions launched the Samaikyandhra Movement demanding that the state be kept united.MLAs from these regions also submitted their resignations in protest seeking a reversal of the home minister's statement.

On 23 December, keeping in view the reactions of people of other regions, the Government of India announced that no action on Telangana will be taken until a consensus is reached by all parties and groups in the state.Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema region MLAs started withdrawing their resignations while MLAs and ministers from Telangana started submitting their resignations, and demanded that the Centre take immediate steps to initiate the process of bifurcating Andhra Pradesh.

A Joint Action Committee (also known as JAC or TJAC) comprising political and non-political groups was formed to lead the demand for separate Telangana withOsmania University professor M Kodandaram Reddy as its convenor.

On 3 February, the government appointed a five-member committee headed by Justice SriKrishna to look into the issue.

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Events leading to the formation of Telangana

Formation of Group of Ministers (GoM)

Govt of India set up the "Group of Ministers"(GOM) headed by union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde  to address all the issues that need resolution at the central and state government levels during the formation of Telangana state. GOM met on 11 October for the first time released its terms of reference]] on 16 Oct.GOM met 2nd time on 19 October and considered the background notes which had been prepared by the Home Ministry regarding the various issues pertaining to the bifurcation. It also asked feedback from public to send their suggestions pertaining to the specific terms of reference before 5 November.On 29 October, the background notes prepared by Home ministry for GOM appeared in the media.On 30 October, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde called for an all-party meeting, to be attended by representatives of national and regional parties of the state, to discuss the issues related to bifurcation.In a letter to 8 major political parties in the state, home ministry asked the parties to submit their suggestions to the GoM by 5 November, following which an all-party meeting will be held.On 13-14 November GOM met the representatives all parties of the state to discuss (TDP boycotted the meeting) about the issues related to bifurcation.GOM had meetings including some with CM, Deputy CM, cabinet ministers from the state and other state leaders while finalizing the Telangana draft bill.

On 3 December, Talk of including 2 Rayalaseema districts, Ananthapur district and Kurnool district, in Telangana state by GOM was criticized by pro Telangana groups. TRS and JAC called for Telangana wide bandh (strike) on 5 December 2013 which had a good response.

On the evening of 5 December 2013, cabinet approved the Telangana draft bill prepared by Group of Ministers (GoM). The bill have to approved by Parliament before it becomes 29th state of the union.Highlights of the Bill are 

• Telangana will have 10 districts(including Hyderabad) and the rest of Andhra Pradesh will have 13 districts
• Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area will remain the common capital for both states for a period not exceeding 10 years.
• An expert committee will identify the alternative capital for Seemandhra region within 45 days of the gazette notification; a joint public service commission will be in place for the two states.
• Both states will have special status under Article 371-D of the Constitution for equitable opportunities.

Legislative Proceedings

6 December 2013: India's Union Home Ministry sends the Telangana draft bill to The President of India.

11 December 2013: The President of India reviews the bill and passes it on to the Andhra Pradesh State Assembly to elicit its views, giving it until 23 January to respond with its views. The bill was urgently hand-delivered the following day,to Assembly Secretariat by the Joint Secretary of Union Home Ministry.

16 December 2013: The Telangana draft bill was introduced in Andhra Pradesh state assembly by deputy speaker Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka in speakers absence. This was met by protests and chaos created by the Seemandhra MLAs.

17 December 2013: Assembly's proceedings remain disrupted. The Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the State Assembly decides to discuss the Bill starting the following day.This evokes mixed reactions including allegations on Seemandhra leaders' attempt to derail the bill by delaying the process.

18,19 December 2013: Assembly proceedings continue to be disrupted. The situation forces the speaker, Nadendla Manohar to adjourn the house until 3 January.This is met with protests from the Telangana MLAs.Telangana and Seemandhra leaders meet The President Pranab Mukherjee vying with each other to complain about the way the Telangana bill was being handled.

1 January 2014: 2 days before the start of the next assembly session, the Chief Minister replaces D Sridhar Babu with S Sailajanath. This move comes criticized as the former hails from Telangana and the latter is actively involved with Samaikyandhra Movement. Sridhar Babu resigns from the cabinet in protest.

3,4 January 2014: Situation fails to improve as Assembly sessions remain disrupted.

6 January 2014: Unable to continue Assembly sessions amid chaos, the speaker requests members to submit written amendments, if any, to the clauses of the Bill by 10 January.

8 January 2014: The bill is finally taken up for debate. However, this lasts for only a few minutes with the YSR Congress Party MLAs resuming protests.

9 January: The debate continues only after YSRCP MLAs were suspended. While there was polarization on regional lines, debate more or less turned into a blame game over the state bifurcation issue as every party indulged in a game of political one-upmanship. Congress leader from Seemandhra and minister Vatti Vasanth Kumar spoke opposing the Telangana bill and said bifurcation is against Seemandhra interests.On 10 January, debate started after YSRCP members staged walk out. Among others, TRS floor leader, E Rajender spoke in length supporting Telangana bill while highlighting the grievances of Telangana people and the history of the movement. CPI floor leader G Mallesh, Congress leader from Telangana and government chief whip Gandra Venkaramana Reddy spoke supporting Telangana bill. House was adjorned until 17 January.After 17 January, debate had less disruptions. Chief Minister requested the President 4week additional time for the debate a move opposed by Telangana leaders.On 23 January, President gave 7days extension, until 30 January, for assembly to give its views on Telangana draft bill.

23-25 Jan 2014: The Chief Minister presents his analysis on how the bifurcation is detrimental to both regions, the highlights being the effect on current irrigation projects in Telangana and better subsidized electricity given to farmers of Telangana. Telangana MLAs ridicule the Chief Minister and prevent the proceedings citing no opportunity to make a counter argument. The Chief Minster later expresses his opinion as the AP Reorganization Bill-2013 being defective. Other members view this as an unduly delayed reaction.

27 Jan 2014: Chief Minister Kirankumar Reddy, gave notice to assembly speaker requesting to move resolution rejecting the Telangana bill. The move was criticized by Telangana MLAs including the ministers and deputy chief minister saying that cabinet was not consulted on the subject. They said this "amounts to defying the Union Cabinet, Constitution and President". After this, no debate was possible in the assembly as Telangana members insisted that speaker reject the Chief minister's notice.

On 30 January 2014, Andhra Pradesh assembly speaker declared that assembly completed the debate and all the members gave their views. He said, he would send to the President of India a compilation of 9,072 suggestions and amendments he received in writing from members, including 87 members who had spoken on the Bill in the house. Further he accepted the Chief minister's notice of resolution to reject the AP Reorganization Bill and declared that resolution passed by voice vote without even waiting for the MLAs in the house to say ‘aye’, admist pandemonium and protests from Telangana MLAs. Earlier in the day Seemandhra members rushed to the well of the House demanding that the resolution moved by the CM, without cabinet approval, be put to vote, those from the Telangana region, including the ministers and deputy chief minister, did the same with the demand that there should be no voting. At 11.30 pm, in what appears to be a coordinated strategy between the speaker, the chief minister and the Seemandhra legislators, all the members from that region converged at the well of the House and formed a wall around the speaker even as Manohar read out the resolution, put it to voice vote and declared it as having been passed. The bill will now be sent back to President Pranab Mukherjee after which it is slated to be tabled in Parliament.The resolution was placed in the house and was declared passed within 15 seconds.Analysts say "rejection of Telangana bill" is not valid and is useful only for political grand standing.Union cabinet minister Jaipal Reddy said that the resolution to reject the Telangana bill was passed in the assembly by cheating and it has no statutory and political sanctity.General secretary of Congress Party and party's in-charge for Andhra Pradesh, Digvijay Singh said that the bill that the President sent to the Assembly was never meant to be put to vote and said that the Congress high command and the Center would go ahead with its plans to introduce and pass the Telangana Bill in Parliament during the forthcoming session.

On 4 February, GOM cleared the Telangana bill after making few amendments to it based upon the input from state assembly.

On 7 February, Union cabinet cleared the Telangana bill and plans to introduce in upper house of Parliament with 32 amendments. Amendments include the details of financial package to Seemandhra to address their concerns.

On 13 February, Telangana bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, by Union home minister, Sushilkumar Shinde despite protests, disruptions of Seemandhra MPs. In an unprecedented incidence, the use of pepper spray by Seemandhra MP, Lagadapati Rajagopal in the Lok Sabha during the introduction of the bill caused all the members to leave the house and some members to be hospitalized.

18 February 2014: the Telangana Bill is passed by the Lok Sabha with support from the BJP and Congress.Broadcast of the proceedings enters a blackout during the voice vote. This caused widespread criticism of the manner in which the bill was passed.

20 February 2014: The Telangana bill is passed by Rajya Sabha with the support form the BJP.The bill receives the assent of the President and published in the gazette on 1 March 2014.On 4 March 2014 the Government of India declares 2 June 2014 the Telangana Formation Day.Telangana is the 29th state of the Union of India with Hyderabad as its capital. Both states will share the capital for 10 years until Seemandhra can establish its own. However, the revenues of Hyderabad will go only to Telangana. No special status was accorded to Seemandhra, though it was hinted in the Telangana Bill.

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Early Telangana protests

Early Telangana protests (1969 to 1985)

1969: This year saw the first of the protests from the Telangana region. Some students protested "implementation of the safe guards from Andhra Pradesh" while some protested for a "Separate Telangana". The local newspaper Indian Express reported that the latter group were dominant.According to the 19 January 1969 edition of The Indian Express, the agitation turned violent when a crowd attempted to set fire to a sub-inspector's residence. 17 were injured in Police firing.Discussions about the promised safe-gaurds were held. The Telangana Regional Committee was, however, not fully convinced of the outcome.This agitation was met by a counter agitation by the Andhra students accusing the transfer Andhra employees as a discrimination between one region and the other. The transfers were eventually challenged in the high-court.

The army had to be called in. After several days of talks with leaders of both regions, on 12 April 1969, Prime minister came up with an eight-point plan.Telangana leaders rejected the plan and protests continued under the leadership of newly formed political party Telangana Praja Samithi in 1969 asking for the formation of Telangana. Under the Mulki rules in force at the time, anyone who had lived in Hyderabad for 15 years was considered a local, and was thus eligible for certain government posts.

1972: When the Supreme Court upheld the Mulki rules the Jai Andhra movement, with the aim of re-forming a separate state of Andhra, was started in Coastal Andhra and Rayalseema regions. The movement lasted for 110 days. The Supreme Court upheld the implementation of Mulki rules. The people from the Andhra region viewed the Milki rules as "treating them like aliens in their own land".

1973: a political settlement was reached with the Government of India with a Six-Point Formula. It was agreed upon by the leaders of the two regions to prevent any recurrenceof such agitations in the future. To avoid legal problems, constitution was amended (32nd amendment) to give the legal sanctity to the Six-point formula.

In 1985, when Telangana employees complained about the violations to six point formula, government enacted government order 610 (GO 610) to correct the violations in recruitment. As Telangana people complained about non implementation of GO 610, in 2001, government constituted Girglani commission to look into violations. Section 18.1.9 of Girglani report said "In the various representations to the government and in the Press a figure ranging 40,000 to 58,000 of non-locals working in zones V and VI is being given as those who are working in violation of Presidential Order. The statistical part of non-locals and locals has been examined by the Commission and it will be seen that the percentage of non-locals in the zones V and VI is negligible and far below the sealing of 20 percent. Therefore on statistical aspect there is no question of any action or implementation of the G.O.

Telangana protests (1997 to 2010)

In 1997, the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) passed a resolution seeking a separate Telangana.

In 2000, Congress party MLAs from the Telangana region who supported a separate Telangana state formed the Telangana Congress Legislators Forum and submitted momorandum to their president Sonia Gandhi requesting the support the Telangana state.

A new party called Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), led by Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), was formed in April 2001 with the single-point agenda of creating a separate Telangana state with Hyderabad as its capital.

In 2001, the Congress Working Committee sent a resolution to the NDA government for constituting a second SRC to look into the Telangana state demand. This was rejected by then union home minister L.K. Advani citing that smaller states were neither viable nor conducive to the integrity of the country.

In April 2002, Advani wrote a letter to MP A. Narendra rejecting a proposal to create Telangana state explaining that "regional disparities in economic development could be tackled through planning and efficient use of available resources". He said that the NDA government, therefore, does "not propose creation of a separate state of Telangana"However in 2012, Advani said that if their then partner TDP cooperated during NDA tenure, a separate state of Telangana could have been created.This was confirmed by the President of the TDP, Chandrababu Naidu, on 1 September 2013 in a public meeting.

In the run-up to the 2004 Assembly & Parliament elections, then Union Home Minister L. K. Advani ruled out inclusion of Telangana in the NDA agenda and said "Unless there is consensus among all political parties in the state and unless that consensus is reflected in a resolution of the state Assembly, we don’t propose to include it in the NDA agenda"

For these elections, the Congress party and the TRS forged an electoral alliance in the Telangana region to consider the demand of separate Telangana State.Congress came to power in the state and formed a coalition government at the centre; TRS joined the coalition after the common minimum program of the coalition government included that the demand for separate Telangana state will be considered after due consultations and consensus.

In February 2009 the state government declared that it had no objection, in principle, to the formation of separate Telangana and that the time had come to move forward decisively on this issue. To resolve related issues, the government constituted a joint house committee.In the lead-up to the 2009 General Elections in India, all the major parties in Andhra Pradesh supported the formation of Telangana.

In the 2009 elections TRS managed to win only 10 assembly seats out of the 45 it contested and only 2 MP seats. Some media analysts thought Telangana sentiment faded.

Within few months of getting re-elected as popular CM, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR) died in a helicopter crash in September 2009. This resulted in a leadership crisis within the Congress party and also created a political vacuum in the state.During this time, TRS president K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) raised his pitch for the separate state. On 29 November 2009, he started a fast-unto-death, demanding that the Congress party introduce a Telangana bill in Parliament.Student organisations, employee unions, and various organisations joined the movement.General strikes shut down Telangana on 6 and 7 December.In an all party meeting called by the state government on the night of 7 December to discuss regarding KCR's fast and how to handle it,all major Opposition parties extended their support for a separate state for Telangana. The state Congress and its ally Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen have left it to the Congress high command to take a final decision. Minutes of the meeting were faxed to Congress high command.

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Telangana movement

The Telangana Movement refers to a separatist movement organized to support the creation of a new state of Telangana, from the existing state of Andhra Pradesh in South India. The proposed new state corresponds to the Telugu-speaking portions of the erstwhile princely state ofHyderabad State. The Union Cabinet on 7 February 2014 unilaterally cleared the Bill for the creation of Telangana, clearing the way for its introduction in Parliament. This has been one of the most controversial movements in South India On 18 February, Lok Sabha passed the Bill with Voice Majority. Subsequently, the bill was passed by Rajya Sabha on 20 February 2014.As per the bill, Hyderabad will be the joint capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for the first 10 years. The appointed day for the creation of Telangana State is 2 June 2014. However the residual state of Andhra Pradesh is left with a deficit budget and no capital.

History

Map of India with the Telangana region highlighted in red

In December 1953, the States Reorganization Commission was appointed to prepare for the creation of states on linguistic lines.The commission, due to public demand, recommended disintegration of Hyderabad state and to merge Marathi speaking region with Bombay state and Kannada speaking region with Mysore state. The States Reorganisation Commission(SRC) discussed pros and cons of the merger of Telugu speaking Telangana region of Hyderabad state with Andhra state. Para 374 of the SRC report said "The creation of Vishalandhra is an ideal to which numerous individuals and public bodies, both in Andhra and Telangana, have been passionately attached over a long period of time, and unless there are strong reasons to the contrary, this sentiment is entitled to consideration". Discussing the case of Telangana, para 378 of the SRC report said "One of the principal causes of opposition of Vishalandhra also seems to be the apprehension felt by the educationally backward people of Telangana that they may be swamped and exploited by the more advanced people of the coastal areas." In its final analysis SRC recommended against the immediate merger. In para 386 it 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, if for the present, the 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 residuary Hyderabad State expresses itself in favor of such unification."

After going through the recommendations of the SRC, the then Central Government led by Jawaharlal Nehru decided to merge Andhra state and Telangana to form Andhra Pradesh state on 1 November 1956 after providing safeguards to Telangana in the form of Gentleman's agreement.

Arguments of the Telangana proponents

A map showing several rivers including the Godavari and Krishna. Both the rivers flow into Coastal Andhra and through Telangana

Telangana is the largest of the three regions of Andhra Pradesh state, covering 41.47% of its total area. It is inhabited by 40.54% of the state's population. The following is the breakup of Andhra Pradesh's revenue by region 

Source	Percentage of Total Revenue
Telangana(including Hyderabad)	61.47%
Telangana(excluding Hyderabad District, but including parts of GHMC in suburbs)	24.3%
Hyderabad District	37.17%
Coastal Andhra	14.71%
Rayalaseema	3.90%
Central Government	19.86%

Note: The income generated by the capital city of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh is a complex issue with income being generated from all regions. This has caused a lot of confusion in region-wise income distribution. Also, after the bifurcation, companies will pay their portion of taxes to Telangana or Seemandhra or both, depending on where they operate(Before bifurcation, lot of companies were paying their taxes in capital city Hyderabad even for their operations in Seemandhra).

Proponents of a separate Telangana state cite perceived injustices in the distribution of water, budget allocations, and jobs. Within the state of Andhra Pradesh, 68.5% of the catchment area of the Krishna River and 69% of the catchment area of the Godavari River are in the plateau region of Telangana and flowing through the other parts of the state into bay of Bengal.Telangana and non coastal parts of Karnataka and Maharastra states form Deccan Plateau. Telangana supporters state that the benefits of irrigation through the canal system under major irrigation projects is accruing substantially, 74.25%, to the Coastal Andhra region, while the share to Telangana is 18.20%. The remaining 7.55% goes to the Rayalaseema region.

As per Volume-II of Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal Award - "The area which we are considering for irrigation formed part of Hyderabad State and had there been no division of that State, there were better chances for the residents of this area to get irrigation facilities in Mahboobnagar District. We are of the opinion that this area should not be deprived of the benefit of irrigation on account of the reorganisation of States.

The share of education funding for Telangana ranges from 9.86% in government-aided primary schools to 37.85% in government degree colleges. The above numbers include the expenditure in Hyderabad. Budget allocations to Telangana are generally less than 1/3 of the total Andhra Pradesh budget. There are allegations that in most years, funds allocated to Telangana were never spent. Since 1956, Andhra Pradesh government established 11 new medical colleges in the state. 8 were in Seemandhra and 3 were in Telangana. Telangana was not compensated for lost opportunities because of inward migration of lot of students into Hyderabad from Seemandhra.According to Professor Jayashankar only 20% of the total Government employees, less than 10% of employees in the secretariat, and less than 5% of department heads in the Andhra Pradesh government are from Telangana; those from other regions make up the bulk of employment.He also alleged that the state was represented by Telangana chief ministers for only 6 1/2 years out of over five decades of its existence, with no chief minister from the region being in power continuously for more than 2 1/2 years.As per Srikrishna committee on Telangana, Telangana held the position of CM for 10.5 years while Seema-Andhra region held it for 42 years.

According to the Backward Regions Grant Fund 2009–10, 13 backward districts are located in Andhra Pradesh: nine (all except Hyderabad) are from Telangana and the rest are from other regions.

Proponents of a separate Telangana state feel that the agreements, plans, and assurances from the legislature and Lok Sabha over the last fifty years have not been honoured, and as a consequence Telangana has remained neglected, exploited, and backward. They allege that the experiment to remain as one state has proven to be a futile exercise and that separation is the best solution.

Note: The above content has been sourced from news articles and articles. It can only be regarded as opinions of a few people rather than solid facts.

Views of political parties

(a) Parties which were in favor of Telangana state before 9 December 2009, but changed the stand to neutral on 10 December 2009, the day the process for formation of Telangana state was announced by central government and later retracted on 23 December.

(b) After 9 December 2009, Jagan Mohan Reddy as a Congress MP opposed the Telangana state formation. After he formed the YSR Congress party, it adopted a neutral stand.

(c) The Praja Rajyam Party of actor-politician Chiranjeevi was against the division of the state, but merged into the Congress in 2011.

(d) The Lok Satta adds that it will welcome the formation of a separate state as part of a comprehensive and amicable solution. It,however,states that the real issue is to improve the lives of people irrespective of the formation of a separate state.

(e) During the all party meeting on 28 December 2012, TDP representatives gave a letter signed by its president to Home minister of India which said that the party had never withdrawn its letter to Pranab Mukherjee in 2008 which supported Telangana state formation.

(f) MIM wants the state to remain united. If division is unavoidable, the party wants a separate state of Rayala-Telangana with Telangana & Rayalseema regions along with Hyderabad as capital. They oppose Hyderabad being declared as a union territory.

(g) Congress working committee took the decision for the formation of Telangana state on 30 July 2013.

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Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao Telangana CM

Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (Telugu: కల్వకుంట్ల చంద్రశేఖర్ రావు, born 17 February 1954), abbreviated KCR,is the First Chief Minister of Telangana and the president of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, a Regional Party in India.He is a Member of the Legislative Assembly from the Gajwel constituency of Medak District Telangana. Previously, he served as the Member of the Legislative Assembly from Siddipet and also as the Member of Parliament fromMahbubnagar and Karimnagar.He took oath as the first Chief Minister of the new state of Telangana on June 2, 2014.He was the cabinet minister for Labour and Employment.

Early life

Rao was born on 17 February 1954 in Chintamadaka village, Siddipet Mandal, Medak District of Andhra Pradesh.in a Velama family hailing from Mohinikunta, a village in near Karimnagar Town located in the state of Telangana. He attained a Masters degree in Telugu Literature from Osmania Arts College-Osmania University, Hyderabad.

Political career

Congress Party

KCR started his career with the youth Congress party in Medak district, controlled by Sanjay Gandhi in the 1970s.

Telugu Desam Party

KCR joined the TDP in 1983 and contested against A.Madan Mohan and lost that election. He won four consecutive Assembly elections from Siddipet between 1985 and 1999. From 1987-1988, he worked as Minister of Drought & Relief in Mr N. T. Ramarao's cabinet. In 1990, he was appointed as TDP convener for Medak, Nizamabad and Adilabad districts. In 1996, he worked as Transport minister in Mr Chandrababau Naidu's cabinet. He also served as the deputy speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly from 2000-2001.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi

Life-size cutout of K Chandrashekar Rao, the First Chief Minister of Telangana State, at a prime location in the capital Hyderabad.

On 27 April 2001, Rao resigned as Deputy Speaker and TDP MLA.He claimed that the politicians of the region were being suppressed and believed that separate state is the only solution.In April 2001, he formed the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to campaign for his separatist agenda.

In the Elections of 2014, Rao announced the first Member of the Legislative Assembly candidate of Telangana Rashtra Samithi from Armoor, Telangana to Asannagari Jeevan Reddy.This was the First ever announcement of MLA Candidates for 2014 Elections by any Political Party in Telangana.Soon he went onto become the First Chief Minister ofTelangana by winning 63 out of 119 Assembly Seats in Telangana including Armoor.The party also won 11 of the 17 Lok Sabha Seats in Telangana and came out as a super power in Telangana Politics.

In the elections of 2004, Rao won the Siddipet state assembly constituency and also the Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency, both as a TRS candidate.The TRS fought the 2004 general elections in alliance with the Indian National Congress and Rao was one of the five TRS candidates who were returned as MPs.

TRS was part of the United Progressive Alliance coalition government, led by Congress. The party later withdrew from the coalition, saying that the Alliance was not minded to support a separate Telangana state.In 2004, he fought the Lok Sabha polls and went on to become a Union Cabinet minister of Labour and Employment in the UPA-1 government at the Centre. He resigned in 2006.In 2009, Rao fought and won the Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha by election for the TRS,the party fought the general elections as part of the opposition coalition led by TDP. In 2014, Elected as MLA from Gajwel Constituency of Medak Dist of Telangana State with a majority of 19218 and as MP from Medak Constituency with a majority of 397029 on 16-5-2014. In Telangana, the TRS, which led the campaign for a separate State for more than a decade, emerged victorious by winning 11 of the 17 Lok Sabha seats and 63 of the 119 Assembly seats, and emerged as the party with the largest vote share.KCR was sworn in as the first chief minister of the Telangana state at 12.57 pm on June 2, the day when the new state will be born. Rao, a staunch believer in astrology, numerology and Vaastu, is learnt to have fixed this time for his coronation as per the advice of priests to suit his lucky number ‘six’.

Personal life

Kalvakuntla Chandrashekhar Rao is married to Shobha and has two children.His son, K. T. Rama Rao, is a legislator from Sircilla, Karimnagar district, Telangana (Now he is cabinet minister for IT & Panchayat Raj Departments); His daughter, Kalvakuntla Kavitha, is M.P. from Nizamabad, Telangana . His nephew, Harish Rao, is Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Siddipet constituency, Medak district, Telangana (Now he is cabinet minister for Water works, Assembly Matters and Marketing).

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