The decision of the Congress Working Committee and the UPA to go ahead with the formation of Telangana State by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh has evoked sharply contrasting reactions from different regions.
While the news from the national capital was heard amid noisy and boisterous celebrations in Hyderabad and other districts of Telangana, the mood was completely somber in Andhra and Rayalaseema. But the outbreak of violence or severe backlash predicted by anti-Telangana leaders remained just a talk.
Hundreds of people danced to the drum beats, stuffed sweets into each others’ mouths and celebrated with crackers as the Telangana Rashtra Samiti headquarters echoed with “Jai Telangana slogans”.
The campus of Osmania University in Hyderabad and Kakatiya University in Warangal, seen of pitched battles between the pro-Telangana students and police till recently also had big celebrations. People from different walks of life, employees, lawyers , students and women also joined the celebrations in different parts.
On the other hand, there were protest demonstrations in Vijaywada, Tirupati, Visakhapatanam and other major cities of Andhra and Rayalaseema. The campus of Sri Venkateshwara University in Tirupati witnessed protest by the students who burnt tyres on the roads.
The effigies of Congress and its president Sonia Gandhi were also burnt.
In Hyderabad, Telangana Rashtra Samiti, the main force in more than a decade long struggle for Telangana State, has welcomed the decision. Party general secretary KT Rama Rao said that the celebrations were a bit muted because of credibility deficiency of the Congress.
“We are happy and we welcome the decision. But we are not celebrating as yet because we would like to wait for Parliament to pass the Bill first. We are cautious because of the credibility deficiency of the Congress”, said K Keshav Rao, secretary general of TRS.
Even as the flurry of activities and meetings in New Delhi around Telangana issue reached a feverish pitch, TRS president K Chandrashekhar Rao was closeted with his party colleagues and aides monitoring the developments in New Delhi.
KCR appeared relaxed and confident that the things were going the way he had dreamt since he launched the movement for the separate State in 2001.
Keshav Rao also made it clear that the TRS will not accept any thing less than Hyderabad as the State capital of Telangana. He also demanded that all the injustices done to Telangana all these years including the river water allocation should be mitigated.
Speculation has already started that two Congress MPs G Vivek and Manda Jagannadham who had quit the party to join the TRS will now return to the Congress fold. Similarly, there was also speculation that TRS MP Vijayshanti was also planning to join the Congress on assurance that she will be party’s candidate from Medak lok Sabha constituency.
Apparently, pressure was mounting on the TRS to seriously consider the proposal of merging itself with the Congress.
Even as the police and the paramilitary forces were keeping a tight vigil, Telangana supporters, specially the students, had started celebrations in Hyderabad , Warangal and other major towns of the region.