Thirteen years after he
launched the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS)
In Apr 2001, with the sole aim of
spearheading the separate state movement, K Chandrasekhara Rao (60) , took oath
as the first Chief Minister of Telangana at 8:15 am on 2nd June 2014. Emotions ran high as the audience, including
many who witnessed the agitation which began in 1969, recalled the lives that
had been sacrificed for the formation of the 29th state, including the many
students who had immolated themselves. The bloody history dates back to States Reorganization Committee of 1953 and in Nov 1955, Andhra Pradesh
assembly passed resolution providing safeguards for Telengana. On Nov. 1, 1956, Telangana was merged with
the Andhra state to form Andhra Pradesh. 13 years later there was massive
revolt known as Jai Telangana Movement
launched by people in Telangana demanding a separate state. As conciliatory
measure, the All-Party State Accord was signed. Indira Gandhi also announced
packages for the region, styled an eight-point formula and a five-point
formula.
Now after
bifurcation, the new capital city of
Andhra is expected to come up somewhere near Vijayawada and Guntur, ~ mix of the iconic arch of the Kakatiya
dynasty and Charminar will form the official logo of Telangana state. The Pratyush Sinha Committee appointed by the
Centre has recommended 163 posts of IAS, 112 of IPS and 65 Indian Forest
Service officers for Telangana. For the new Andhra state, the Pratyush Sinha
Committee has recommended 211 posts of IAS, 144 IPS, and 82 IFS officers. Indian Express reports that Chandrasekhara Rao will not be using the
official CM bungalow at Begumpet in Hyderabad as he feels it is unlucky and
inauspicious. Y S Rajasekhara Reddy who got the sprawling bungalow died in a
helicopter crash in September 2009. His successor K Rosaiah resigned within 10
months. N Kiran Kumar Reddy faced chaotic times till he resigned as CM. Land prices are already shooting up in the
expectation of a new capital coming up in the region. A metro rail and
high-speed corridor will connect the two cities.
It is
history now as Telangana became the 29th state of India at the stroke of
midnight on Sunday, triggering massive celebrations besides an hour-long
dazzling display of fireworks around the Hussain Sagar Lake in Hyderabad. The TRS, which spearheaded the separate
statehood campaign for last 13 years, painted the city in pink — the official
colour of the party. Giant cut-outs of TRS founder and chief minister designate
Kalvakuntala Chandrasekhar Rao, large pink coloured balloons with his portrait
emblazoned and festoons of the party flag, which has the outline of 10
Telangana districts, were put up in every vantage point of the city.
The Telangana Rashtra
Samithi turned the celebration into a massive people’s event. The party
distributed sweets and packets of Hyderabadi biriyani to the tens of thousands
of people gathered on the roads near the lake at night. Daily mail reports that there will be no dearth
of cross-border rows after redrawing geographies to cleave the 10-district
Telangana and 13 districts in residual Andhra Pradesh. Sharing of assets and
other resources between the successor states will be no less agonising than the
pangs of partition in a quarrelsome family. Telangana CM K.
Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to go to the Supreme Court to stall work on the
Polavaram project demanding that those villages in Khammam district of
Telangana transferred to Andhra Pradesh be retained. Mr Nara Chandrababu Naidu,
is opposed to it and is demanding that the BJP government treat the Polavaram
project as a national project and bear the entire expenses to complete it at
the earliest. Sharing of employees also is posing challenges after it is found that
‘non – natives’ of Telangana want to be part of the state’s administration.
Two iconic
monuments — the Kakatiya Kala Thoranam (the landmark of the region’s rulers
between the 12th and 14th centuries), the fabled 423- year-old Charminar and
the Ashoka emblem are emblazoned on it to lend it a popular appeal. That is the
logo of the Government of Telangana, written on it in English, Telugu and Urdu.
While the national emblem – the Sarnath pillar lions – is embossed in gold at
the top, Satyamev Jayate is etched in Hindi in green at the bottom. It has been
designed by Hyderabad-based artist Laxman Aelay. Telangana will also have a state song — Jaya,
Jayahe Telangana — which was played at 150-odd places several times over on
Sunday night. Written by renowned lyricist Ande Sri, it became a popular song at
rallies and protests during the separate statehood campaign. Only four of the
12 stanzas have been selected as the Telangana song.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
3rd June 2014.
