Congress leaders from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions went into a tizzy, sparked off by conflicting reports from New Delhi, that the 'note' on Telangana would be discussed by the Union Cabinet on Thursday, forcing AP Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy to dissipate the tension saying there was "no such information".
"Stay calm, there is no information that the 'T note' will come up before the Union Cabinet today; but we should all defeat the resolution over the state bifurcation issue in the Assembly whenever it comes to us," the AP Chief Minister reportedly told his cabinet colleagues, MPs, MLCs and MLAs who rushed to him on Thursday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Telugu television news channels went to town claiming that the note on Telangana would be taken up as a "table item", though it was not listed in the regular agenda of the Union Cabinet meeting in New Delhi on Thursday evening.
Comments by All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Digvijay Singh that "the note has to go to the Cabinet anyway" triggered speculation that it would indeed be taken up today evening.
However, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde denied this saying that such reports were "media speculation".
Despite this, there was instant anger across coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions where people who have been agitating for the last 65 days demanding that the state be kept "united", took to the streets in large numbers and burnt effigies of Congress leaders.
Spontaneous bandhs and shut downs were observed in many towns of these regions, even as AP NGOs Association president P Ashok Babu, who has been leading the agitation, expressed outrage over the Centre's move.
Congress ministers, MPs, MLAs and MLCs held a meeting at the Ministers' Residential Complex here and discussed developments.
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