Hyderabad: The emotive state bifurcation issue has once again flared up in Andhra Pradesh after the union cabinet set up a Group of Ministers (GoM) to work out the modalities for creation of Telangana, India’s 29th state.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram will head the GoM. Hyderabad will be the joint capital of Telangana and Seemandhara for 10 years and after that Seemandhara will have to establish its own capital.
The cabinet decided to go ahead with the Telangana despite the stiff opposition from leaders from the Seemandhara region. Tourism Minister Chiranjeevi has already resigned from the government while another heavyweight, HRD Minister MM Pallam Raju, offered to quit but was asked to continue by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The Jaganmohan Reddy-led YSR Congress party has called for a 72-hour bandh in protest against the cabinet’s decision.
The bandh is expected to be near total in the entire Seemandhara region and would be felt in cities like Vijayawada and Vishakapatnam.
The Seemandhara Lawyer Joint Action Committee (JAC) has also called a 48-hour-bandh in the 13 districts of Seemandhara and the Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers (APNGOs) Association has called for 48-hour blockade of national highways.
By approving Telangana, the Congress has stood to its poll promise; however, the party is yet to decipher how the issue will play out in Seemandhara and Rayalaseema where YSR Congress party has emerged a potent force.