Telangana Issue Updates

Today Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reached out to the BJP over the bill to create a new Telangana state by dividing Andhra Pradesh, which is to be taken up in the Rajya Sabha.Dr Singh met BJP's Rajya Sabha leaders Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu a day after the bill was passed .Telangana will become 29^th state in country.

NOW THERE ARE 10 LATEST POINTS IN THIS ISSUE:

 The BJP has moved 20 amendments to the Telangana bill, including a compensatory package for Seemandhra, the non-Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh which fears a smaller share of water, power and revenue from Telangana once the new state is created. 

-The party has asked the Rajya Sabha chairman to ensure proper discussion on the bill a day after it was passed in the Lok Sabha.

-Kiran Kumar Reddy today resigned as Chief Minister and quit his Congress party. He had campaigned vociferously against the state's division, and had fronted the Andhra Pradesh assembly's resolution rejecting the Telangana proposal

-Linking the bifurcation of the state to political gains is wrong, Mr Reddy told. "I tried my best to prevent Telangana. Sorry, I couldn't."

-Union minister P Chidambaram told that Mr Reddy should have been asked to resign "much sooner."

-Protests against Telangana took an ugly turn in the Rajya Sabha, as a TDP MP, C Ramesh, tried to snatch papers from the Secretary General, and ended up hitting him on the chin.

-The MP apologized to the house later. "You can't attack the staff. Very unfortunate," said PJ Kurien, who was presiding over the Rajya Sabha. There were repeated disruptions in both houses.

-On Tuesday, moments after Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde took up the Telangana Bill in the Lok Sabha.Facing a political uproar, the Lok Sabha secretariat ordered a probe and later called it a technical glitch. 

 -Deputy parliamentary affairs minister, Rajiv Shukla, indicated that the blackout may have been planned as he said, "There are provisions for TV cameras to be turned off whenever there are disruptions in the house, when MPs are in the well."

-Many schools and colleges are shut in Seemandhra due to a shutdown called by anti-Telangana politicians including YSR Congress leader Jagan Mohan Reddy.