TRS boost for Telangana | | | Indian Express

TRS boost for Telangana | | | Indian Express: "On December 23, 2009, when the Centre backtracked on carving out a separate Telangana state in the face of protests from the coastal region of Andhra Pradesh, Union home minister P Chidambaram justified it citing the ‘altered situation’. The situation since then has indeed altered again and decisively so in Telangana. That is the message that comes out loud and clear from the results of the by-elections held in the region with people re-electing Telangana Rashtra Samithi candidates by record-breaking margins, consigning the nominees of both Congress and Telugu Desam Party to the dustbin. The people have conveyed that they want nothing short of a separate state. In our view, the implications of the bypolls go beyond the statehood movement, and are bound to lead to a realignment of political forces in the state. In the immediate context, of course, the Srikrishna Committee set up by the Centre on the ‘T’ issue needs no more proof of the strength of the sentiment for a separate state. If anything, the mood is only going to coalesce further in the months to come. Therefore, if a reconciliation between Telangana and Coastal Andhra is difficult to bring about, the question before the panel is how to peacefully and amicably separate the two regions, duly accommodating the concerns of all."