KCR recovers, TRS calls off victory rally

Hyderabad: Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) called off Thursday's victory celebrations in Hyderabad with the party instead deciding to hold a commemorative meeting inside the Osmania University campus, which was one of the main venues in the fight for Telangana.

TRS President K Chandrashekhar Rao expressed his happiness and claimed victory for forcing the Centre of agreeing to create Telangana.

"I thank Sonia Gandhi, the Prime Minister Government of India, Opposition Leader LK Advani and other leaders who supported the cause of Telangana. It has been pursued by many martyrs. I thank all who participated for achievement of the cause," said KCR after breaking his 11-day long fast at the Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) on Wednesday night.

"We wanted that there should be a separate Telanaga state. We were apprehensive about the failing health of our collegue. Today we are happy that the issue has been resolved. The Government should take the House into confidence about the process of formation of the 29th state and also the time frame"
— BJP Leader LK Advani to CNN-IBN

The authorities also lifted prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) under which the assembly of five or more people at a place is illegal from all districts of Telangana except Hyderabad.

There is heavy police presence in Hyderabad to prevent a law and order breakdown even as tension across the region has subsided following Centre's nod to a separate Telanagana state.

Meanwhile, KCR’s condition will take some more time to get back to normal.

Doctors attending the TRS leader at NIMS in Hyderabad say protein levels in his blood are too low.

"KCR's Health condition will take some time to normalise. It may even take a month. He has lost eight kgs in 11 days. We have started giving him liquid food as of now. His condition had become critical but we are now trying to get it back to normal. His vital parameters are stable. It is too soon to say when he will be discharged," said KCR's personal physician Dr MV Rao.

Andhra Pradesh Assembly is likely to move the resolution for a separate state on Thursday. But the status of Hyderabad is still not clear with the state Congress saying that the question of making the city a union territory does not arise.

After the state Assembly passes a resolution the Centre will have to place ac bill in Parliament to create Telangana. The Constitutional Amendment Bill for creating Telangana has to be passed in Parliament by a two-thirds majority. The new state of Telangana will then be created after President's approval.

The demand for a separate Telangana state goes back several decades. Telangana is a region comprising 10 of Andhra Pradesh's 23 districts.

Originally, the region was a part of the erstwhile Nizam's princely state of Hyderabad. In 1948, India put an end to the rule of the Nizams and Hyderabad state was formed.

In 1956, the Telangana part of Hyderabad was merged with Andhra Pradesh that had been carved out of Madras Presidency in 1953 after Potti Sreeramulu's agitation for Telugu statehood

The people from Telangana were against merger with Andhra as they feared job losses because education levels and development in Andhra were better than in their region.

There were cultural differences too as under Nizam's rule, the culture and language in Telangana bore influences of North India.

In 1969, the Telangana movement intensified under the leadership of Marri Chenna Reddy and the Telangana Praja Samithi.

There was widespread violence and over 350 protesters were killed in police firing and lathicharge.

However the movement could not last long as Chenna Reddy went on to merge his party with Congress and was eventually made chief minister of Andhra Pradesh by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi.

In 2001, the movement revived once again when K Chandrasekhar Rao quit the Telugu Desam Party and formed the TRS.

In 2004, the Congress joined hands with Rao, promising separate Telangana but later backtracked.