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HYDERABAD: India’s government will carve a new state out of southern Andhra Pradesh – base for several major multinational corporations’ operations – after violent protests, a move likely to fuel more statehood demands.
Regular protests demanding the new ‘Telangana’ state, which would take 10 out of 23 districts of Andhra Pradesh, have shut down businesses in Hyderabad, the main city and home to firms like Microsoft, Google and Mahindra Satyam.
‘The process of forming the state of Telangana will be initiated,’ Home (interior) Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, told reporters early on Thursday after hectic meetings.
Jubiliant supporters of a new state set off firecrackers and danced in Hyderabad when they heard news of the government’s decision.
The Telangana supporters want Hyderabad included as well.
The city rivals Bangalore, India’s Silicon Valley, and has a mix of software firms and shopping complexes along with ancient mosques and forts.
Demands for a separate state gathered steam in 1969 with violent protests killing more than 300 people till 1972.
The protests died down for a time, until the regional Telangana Rashtra Samiti party headed by K. Chandrasekhara Rao raised fresh demands in 2001, supported by other non-Congress groups.
Congress, which rules Andhra Pradesh, promised a new state, but was non-committal after winning two straight general elections in 2004 and in May this year, angering supporters of the idea, especially from lower castes in the Telangana region.
Chandrasekhara Rao began a fast until death 10 days ago and the Congress party finally gave in, a move experts says might backfire by sparking similar demands for other states elsewhere.
‘I do foresee demands for statehood from other regions like Rayalaseema and north coastal Andhra Pradesh bordering Orissa state,’ Rama Brahmam, a professor of political science at the Hyderabad University said on Thursday. —Reuters
DAWN.COM | World | India to form new state out of Andhra Pradesh
