Students of Osmania University celebrate after the decision on Telangana (left); TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao greets supporters. (AFP)

Hyderabad, July 30: For someone who had spearheaded the statehood movement for over 12 years, Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao was surprisingly subdued this evening. After all, a political rival had hijacked his cause.

Asked to comment on the UPA decision to divide Andhra Pradesh, all Rao said was: “We’ll wait till a bill on Telangana is introduced in Parliament.”

The cautious reaction was all the more surprising because Rao had declared several times that he was prepared to merge his party with the Congress if it granted statehood to Telangana.

However, the Congress leadership, keen on hogging the entire credit, had kept Rao out of the consultation process leading to today’s announcement. This evening, Rao evaded questions on the possible merger.

He also appeared dissatisfied with Hyderabad being made the common capital. “What is this common capital? It needs to be clarified,” he said.

It was Rao’s indefinite fast in November 2009 that had prompted the UPA government to first announce the start of the process for formation of a Telangana state. However, the Congress later backtracked following a violent backlash from the Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions, before eventually doing another about-turn after months of dithering.

Joy and anger

Telangana residents celebrated the announcement with firework and music while Seemandhra (coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema) registered its anger with protest rallies and resignations by ministers and lawmakers.

Crackers went off in the Telangana region’s towns, where people embraced one another on the streets and distributed sweets in neighbourhoods. Students and political activists thronged Hyderabad’s Tank Bund and Necklace Road with chants of “Jai Telangana”.

The city’s restaurants, teashops and biryani outlets handed out free biscuits, tandoori chicken and other snacks while discotheques rocked to hit numbers from the Telugu film Teenmar featuring a traditional dance form native to Telangana.

People garlanded statues and memorials of the statehood movement’s “martyrs”, both from the 1960s and the recent agitation.

Amid the rejoicing, the police moved swiftly to insure against possible violence.

They cordoned off the homes of Seemandhra politicians, industrialists and teachers and the offices of newspapers and TV channels that had opposed the state’s division. A police guard was posted at the home of Telugu Desam Party chief N. Chandrababu Naidu.

Central paramilitary forces were rushed to Seemandhra towns, too, where students, public and private-sector employees, lawyers and trade union leaders staged protests. Over 3,000 college students, including girls, blocked a thoroughfare in Vijayawada.

The Andhra Joint Action Committee has called for a general strike tomorrow and demanded that Seemandhra lawmakers resign to mount pressure on the Centre.

State infrastructure minister G.S. Rao, a “united Andhra” campaigner, said 15 ministers had already resigned and that chief minister Kiran Reddy would step down at a later date.

Congress MLAs from Rayalaseema will meet tomorrow to discuss their course of action, including the possibility of resignation.