Osmania erupts again, TRS calls off bandh

After the Centre was forced to do a u-turn on Telangana, Thursday began on a tense note as Andhra Pradesh braced for another round of violence. The violence did begin, but K Chandrasekhar Rao soon called off the two-day bandh his party had announced to protest against the Centre's statement putting a separate Telangana state on hold.

The TRS said it had called off the bandh for Christmas. The move came even as the Centre said it was considering setting up a state reorganization commission to pacify regions in the country demanding separate states.

The TRS move also came soon after protesting students were lathicharged at OsmaniaUniversity. KCR said: "I appeal to the prime minister not to drag the issue...a lot of blood has been sacrificed...you see how we are all united breaking party barriers...don't beat our students , don't fire at them."

Ten MLAs of the TRS resigned on Wednesday even as the Centre announced it was putting statehood for Telangana on hold. Two Praja Rajyam Party MLAs have quit and 12 Congress MLAs have submitted their resignations to the Speaker. TRS village sarpanches too plan to resign today.

In Delhi, all the 12 Congress MPs from the Telangana region have announced their decision to hand their resignations to Congress President Sonia Gandhi in protest against the Centre's statement that the situation in Andhra Pradesh has "altered" since it announced steps to form Telangana earlier this month. Home Minister P Chidambaram made a brief statement last night saying wide-ranging consultations would be held on the issue as a large number of parties are sharply divided on it.

In its Telangana statement, the Centre, which is now considering setting up a state reorganisation committee to look into carving out new states, has called for consensus and harmony. But of which are likely to remain elusive in a state that has been tense for most of this month, with almost-daily clashes between pro and anti-Telangana supporters.

For the ruling Congress, it's the beginning of yet another chapter in a prolonged nightmare. It had announced the formation of a new Telangana state under intense pressure. Now, again under pressure, the party has been forced to put the Telangana statehood issue on hold. Instantly, the focus has shifted back to K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR), the man who began it all with his hunger strike for a separate Telangana. That 11-day fast is credited with forcing the central government to make its shock midnight announcement okaying a new state.

KCR, who along with another TRS MP Vijayshanti has resigned from the Lok Sabha, said the people of Telangana had been betrayed once again. His party has called for a 48-hour bandh that began today, The authorities have braced for violence that expectedly began immediately after the Centre's new statement, with protesters throwing stones at RTC and private buses plying near the Osmania University campus on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Hundreds of students raising 'Jai Telangana' slogans took to streets and resorted to road-blockades. As protesting students went on the rampage at Osmania University, the heart of the pro-Telangana movement, police resorted to lathicharge and teargassing. There's a heavy police presence in the University campus.

There were reports of many trains being stopped in Warangal. Pro-Telangana activists also disrupted the national kabaddi championship in Nalgonda. A power plant at Karimnagar belonging to former chief minister YSR's son Jaganmohan Reddy, was also attacked.

Jaganmohan is being seen as having incited anti-Telangana protests. Speaking on the NDTV programme The Buck Stops Here, Congress MP Madhu Yakshi who is in favour of a separate Telangana, blamed the lobby led by Jaganmonhan Reddy for fuelling anti-Telangana protests.

Those protests had started with the Centre's earlier announcement that a separate Telangana state would be carved out of Andhra Pradesh.

While it had got KCR to end his fast and call off the pro-Telangana protests, MLAs from across political parties, including the Congress, belonging to the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions handed in their resignations. Chief Minister K Roasaih was forced to distance himself from the Centre's decision, claiming that his party leaders had not consulted him.

Opposition leaders Chandrababu Naidu and Chiranjeevi did a quick u-turn. After pledging their support to a new state, they said they were changing their minds, as their parties faced the very real danger of splitting. Chiranjeevi resigned as an MLA, taking "moral responsibility" for his change in policy.

Taking their cue from KCR's fast, several other leaders went on a hunger strike to demand a 'United Andhra'. Most visible among them, L Rajagopal, the Congress MP from Vijayawada, who was arrested earlier this week after his health deteriorated. He was rushed to a Vijayawada hospital from where he orchestrated an "escape" while 300 policemen were on guard. He then reappeared in Hyderabad 15 hours later, pulling up in an auto rickshaw to the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences. Rajagopal sprinted into his hospital and hopped into bed. The government wanted to keep him away from the capital, worried that his arrival would lead to violent protests.