Politics of Andhra Pradesh - First Separate Telangana Movement

First Separate Telangana Movement

The Northwest region of the state is called Telangana and includes the capital city of Hyderabad. The influx of people from the coastal region into the city of Hyderabad and remaining regions of Telangana created social tensions. Discontent spread among the people of Telangana, officials and unemployed youth who felt that they were exploited by the people of the Andhra region. This resulted in a student of Khammam going on a hunger strike in January 1969 demanding the implementation of the safeguards for Telangana provided in the Gentlemen's Agreement. This agitation spread to Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana. In the beginning, the movement demanded the implementation of the safeguards agreed upon earlier, but later it wanted the separation of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh. The agitation took a new turn when Congress legislators from Telangana supported the movement. Chenna Reddy entered the fray and formed the Telangana Praja Samiti to lead the movement. But in November 1969 there was a major split in the TPS which eventually led to the downfall of the movement. In 1969, Purushothama Rao unveiled a Telangana map in the state assembly: he was for outright separation during the 1969 Telangana movement and supported the student views. In the year 1972, all candidates belonging to STPS under the leadership of M. Sridhar Reddy contested the assembly elections, however, only Purushothama Rao got elected from Wardhannapet constituency of Warangal District; the rest were defeated. In September 1971, Kasu Brahmananda Reddy, the then Chief Minister, resigned his position to make room for a leader from Telangana to become the Chief Minister. On 30 September 1971, P. V. Narasimha Rao became the Chief Minister. The Telangana Praja Samiti was dissolved and its members rejoined the Congress.