From power crisis to resignations: Key facts on Telangana fallout

The 72-hour bandh against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh entered its fourth day on Tuesday with Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra experiencing a near-complete shutdown. Electricity employees continue to be on strike, crippling infrastructure in the state including medical and transport services. Here are the key developments that have taken place since the Union Cabinet decided to give Telangana the green signal on 04 October:  [caption id=“attachment_1159029” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Former Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu. PTI[/caption] Resignations *****Four Union ministers - HRD minister MM Pallam Raju, Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi, MoS Commerce D Purandeswari and MoS Railways Kotla Surya Prakash Reddy - submitted their resignations to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh explaining their inability to be part of the government, saying the crisis could be defused only if the Centre delayed the process of forming the new state. They say they will not attend their offices from today. Congress legislators in the state, however, decided against resigning as they felt they need to be in the Assembly and defeat the legislation when it is put forth before the House. * Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kirankumar Reddy has also refused to commit to resigning over the issue and said that he didn’t care about holding on to the seat of power. “My seat is a small sacrifice,” he had said, adding that the government should keep in abeyance any decision to go ahead with the formation of the new state of Telangana. “No decision should be taken… Surely not before elections,” he had said. Power crisis * Large parts of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions continue to remain in darkness for the third day with electricity employees on strike. There is a possibility of the power crisis affecting the entire Southern Grid. On Monday, Hardly 2,990 MW of thermal power was produced as against the installed capacity of 6,090 MW in the state. Similarly, power from the hydel generation stood at 1,694 MW against the installed capacity of 3,937 MW. Several gas-based power plants have been shut due to gas shortage. * According to a  report in   TOI , the centre has issued a directive to Andhra state officials to cut generation so that frequency does not drop below 49.5 hertz. “Since we are maintaining the frequency level at 49.6 hertz at present, there is no immediate threat to the southern grid. Our load dispatch centres are monitoring the situation every minute,” Munindra, in-charge CMD, APTransco, told TOI. The Indian electricity grid code says that the permissible frequency band for grid operations to be followed strictly by all member states is 49.5Hz to 50.2Hz. Trains * Railway service in and out of Andhra Pradesh have also been largely affected. Hundreds of train passengers were stranded at various stations in Srikakulam district bordering Odisha as the movement of trains between Bhubaneswar and Visakhapatnam were hit. Railways cancelled several trains in areas including Guduru and Vijayawada, which is one of the biggest transit hubs in south India. Some trains even ran with diesel engines. * Law and order * The Union government appealed to people to create an environment for a healthy dialogue process and assured all regions of Andhra Pradesh that an an amicable solution that safeguards interests of all will be found. Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday and updated him about the law and order situation in the state saying adequate forces were already in place to thwart any untoward incidents. * Former AP chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is on an indefinite strike in New Delhi while YSR Congress Chief Jagan Mohan Reddy is on a fast in Hyderabad. On Monday, Naidu accused Congress of playing politics in view of the Lok Sabha polls, but remained ambivalent on Telangana. “They (Congress party) are treating Andhra Pradesh issue as the internal affair of the party. They are interested in politics, not governance or state or people. They are saying everything in terms of politics. Things are becoming worse day by day.” * Reddy had on Sunday said the Congress party was responsible for dividing the state. “Sonia Gandhi is responsible for the crisis in the state and she has been playing with the sentiments of people with the singular motive of seeing to it that her son Rahul Gandhi is made PM,” Jagan alleged. * Services to the famous Venkateswara temple at Tirumala was also affected. The temple observes an annual ‘Brahmotsavam’ during the Navratri festival, involving a twice-daily procession of the deity, but has been affected by the protests. According to media reports, this was perhaps the first time that the temple administration could not provide transport facilities to pilgrims. The hotel industry in the area was also badly hit with many suffering huge loses and even considering shutting down permanently.