In response to the letter sent by Union Home Ministry seeking suggestions of the political parties on State’s bifurcation issue, Jagan Mohan Reddy reiterated that his party was against any move to divide the State. “We want to make it clear in no uncertain terms that our party is committed to an integrated Andhra Pradesh and will oppose any move to divide it,” he said in a letter addressed to MHA Joint Seceretary S Suresh Kumar.

“The decision of the Union Cabinet on 3rd October 2013 to bifurcate the state of Andhra Pradesh is not acceptable. It is a well known fact that 75 per cent of the state population has been agitating and is on roads opposing the move to bifurcate the state for over three months. Yet the Congress party and Union of India chose to ignore this fact and are going ahead to do this grave injustice,” the YSRCP chief said.

Jagan said that the YSRCP strong oppose the Group of Minister (GoM) as it was set up with the sole objective of facilitating the division of State. “In this light, we request you to kindly roll back the decision taken by the Union Cabinet to bifurcate the state, in the larger interest of democracy,” he said.

- INN

Several government and non-government associations have extended their support to the strike call given by the APNGOs. The employees union of Kakinada Port too has decided to go on 48-hour strike in support of Saimakhyandhra agitation. Therefore, the Anchorage Port and Deep Water Port will not function on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Seemandhra Petrol Bunk Owners Association too have extended support to the strike and decided to keep all petrol bunks close for 24-hours from Monday midnight.

With 6,600 RTC employees joining the strike, nearly 12,000 buses remained parked on 123 depots across the State. They include 3,300 buses in 32 depots of Vijayawada division and 1,356 buses of 14 depots of Krishna Division.

The government doctors will join the strike from Tuesday. However, they would attend to emergency duties in government hospitals.

Meanwhile, the representatives of the student JACs of 14 universities from Seemandhra region called for a bandh in all 13 districts on Tuesday in support of the APNGOs Association’s general strike.

APNGOs president P Ashok Babu said that the strike would not be called off unless the Centre reverses its decision on division of State. Further, he dismissed having negotiations with the AK Antony Committee as its official status was not clear. Earlier, the APNGOs served the final strike notice to Chief Secretary Dr PK Mohanty and later staged a blind fold protest in the State Secretariat. They also tried to gherao ministers including Finance Minister Anam Ramnarayan Reddy demanding their resignations.

The APNGOs strike, if prolonged for long, will cripple the normal life as it was witnessed during 48-day long “Sakala Janula Samme” (general strike) called by Telangana Employees in 2011.

Addressing a Samaikhyandhra protest meeting at RK Beach here, Sabbam Hari said that it was due to Naidu’s lack of vision that the Centre has conveniently decided in favour of formation of Telangana State. Stating that a majority of people were in favour of united AP, he asked Naidu to join the Samaikhyandhra agitation.

Sabbam Hari also slammed Congress president Sonia Gandhi for supporting division of Andhra Pradesh. By doing so, he said Sonia was defying the policy of her mother-in-law and late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who was against smaller States. However, he said that Sonia Gandhi would never be able to achieve the political goal that she has eyed on by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh.

The Anakapalle MP announced that he would vote against Telangana Bill in Parliament if his resignation was not accepted.

- INN

People are free to express their opinions freely and fearlessly without resorting to violence, disrupting lives and fuelling hatred and animosities.

The Round Table wanted the Government of India to appoint an official committee in place of the ruling party panel to address grievances of all sections of people in the wake of the decision to split the State.  Since wisdom is not the monopoly of only legislators or officials, the Government should associate the civil society in arriving at decisions and implementing them.

The Foundation for Democratic Reforms and the Lok Satta movement convened the non-partisan Round Table to discuss what needs to be done to facilitate a bright future for people of all the regions in the wake of the Delhi decision to carve out a separate Telangana State.

Lok Satta Party national President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan set the tone for the four-hour-long discussions by asking participants not to indulge in a post-mortem on the decision to divide the State but focus on offering constructive suggestions. “The future is what matters and the past is inconsequential in the present context,” he underlined. He said that formation of a new State is neither a panacea nor a catastrophe since it is merely an administrative and political arrangement. But the move presented a golden opportunity for unveiling policies that transform people’s lives.

There was broad consensus among participants on the need to ensure the safety and security of people living in Hyderabad city irrespective of their origin through appropriate legal and administrative arrangements. Although the Constitution guarantees citizens the freedom to live and work anywhere in the country, there are apprehensions among large sections of people in the city on their future with which they have developed an attachment. The arrangements are necessary against the backdrop of harassment of people belonging to Kerala and Bihar in Maharashtra and those of Hindi-speaking States in Assam in the past.

The participants pointed out that Rayalaseema needs special attention because of the special problems it faces. It is deficient in rainfall, landlocked and economically backward. It now feels orphaned in the wake of the loss of a metropolis like Hyderabad. Permanent, credible and effective arrangements should be made to resolve its problems here and now so that bigger problems do not crop up in future.

Some of them felt that nothing short of formation of a separate Rayalaseema State along with Telangana answers their needs.

The participants agreed that mere formation of a State or two will not bring about a change in people’s lives unless power is decentralized, corruption mitigated if not eradicated and services extended as a matter of right.

Some participants pointed out that there is no provision in the Constitution for making one city as the capital of two States and it therefore warrants a Constitutional amendment. They also called for some sort of Constitutional arrangement for the sharing of the revenue from Hyderabad city between the two States for some period.

Some of the participants suggested formation of an independent water authority as envisaged in the Constitution to ensure fair distribution of river waters among States.

Those who took part in the marathon discussion included freedom fighter Chennamaneni Rajeswara Rao, former Justice Lakshmana Rao, K. Nageshwar, MLC, retired top officials K. Padmanabhaiah, K. Sujatha Rao,  K. Aravind Rao,  T. Hanuman Chowdary,  K. Satyanarayana Murthy, M. Padmanabha Reddy, S.R Vijayakar, Venkata Rao, Professors Kancha Ilaiah, Madabhushi Sridhar, Sasidhar, Visweswara Rao,  journalists Pothuri Venkateswara Rao, K. Srinivasa Reddy,  K. Ramachandra Murthy, Kandula Ramesh, Telakapalli Ravi, N. Seetharama Raju, Devi Priya, NGO leaders and social activists J. Lakshmana Reddy, Mazar Hussain, Chalasani Srinivas,  Dr. V.B.J Chelikani Rao, S. Ramachandra Reddy, Katragadda Prasuna, Putta Surender Babu, K. Chiranjeevi and P. Chengal Reddy, Lakshminarayana, Dasaradhasrami Reddy, Devi, Rev. Dr. J. Charles, K.Pratapa Reddy and Anwar Khan.

- INN

Rayachoti MLA Shrikanth Reddy (YSRCP), Railway Kodad MLA Srinivasulu (YSRCP), Jammalapadugu MLA Adi Narayana Reddy (Congress) and MLCs Narayan Reddy and V Pullaiah submitted their resignation letters to Kadapa District Samaikhyandhra JAC convenor Chandrashekhar Reddy.

The decision to resign from their posts was taken during the Round Table conference held at a private hotel here. The conference was attended by MLAs, MLCs and other public representatives.

After detailed discussions, it was also decided that mass protests would be held in New Delhi and a dharna would also be organised before the residence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. However, the date for protests would be announced later.

- INN

لیکن کٹر مخالفین، یعنی سیما آندھرا کے قائدین نے، آج کے سی آر کی سالگرہ منائی. سمیکھیا آندھرا جے اے سی کے قائدین نے کے سی آر کی تصویر کے سامنے مٹھایاں تقسیم کی اور کے سی آر کو غائبانہ میں .مبارکباد پیش کی. انہوں نے کے سی آر سے درخواست کی کہ وہ ریاست کی تقسیم کا مطالبہ چھوڑ دیں
لیکن کچھ طلبہ نے وشاکھاپٹنم میں انکی سالگرہ کے موقعے پر احتجاج بھی منعقد کیا

راجگوپال انکے حامیوں کے ساتھ نائڈو کو ایک یاداشت پیش کرنا چاہتے تھے. تاہم پولیس نے انکی ریلی کو ناکام بنا دیا. اپنے حامیوں سے خطاب کرتے ہوئے راجگوپال نے کہا کہ وہ کسی بھی قیمت پر ریاست کی تقسیم نہیں ہونے دینگے. تلنگانہ کی تائید کے باوجود چندرا بابو نائڈو کی علاقہ آندھرا میں پدیاترا کی مخالفت کرتے ہوئے انہوں نے کہا کہ نائڈو کو اپنا موقف بدلنا ہوگا

راجگوپال جب اپنے حامیوں کے ساتھ نائڈو کی پدیاترا کی جانب بڑھ رہے تھے، تب پولیس نے انہیں گرفتار کر لیا

اس احتجاج کی وجہ سے وجےواڑہ شاہ رہ پر ٹریفک کئی گھنٹوں تک متاثر رہی ہے

While raising slogans in favour of united Andhra Pradesh, the activists demanded that the minister resign from his post immediately. The activists were arrested by the police when a few of them tried to barge into his residence. They were shifted to a nearby police station and released later.

-INN