Telangana fallout: Seemandhra faces power crisis as Vijayawada stations shut down

Hyderabad:  The government is grappling with aggressive whiplash over last evening's decision to proceed with the creation of a Telangana state.

Here are 10 big developments in the story:

1. Telangana is one of the three regions of Andhra Pradesh. The other two - the 13 districts of "Seemandhra" as the Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions are jointly called - are in total shutdown with shops, schools and offices closed.
2. Power supply in at least six of the 13 districts in Seemandhra has been critically hit as all but one of the seven units of the Vijaywada Thermal Power Station are closed, with employees participating in protests. Apart from Vijayawada, the neigbbouring districts of Eluru, Guntur, Machlipatnam and East and West Godavari districts are also facing power crisis. The power station provides about 120 MW power to Hyderabad as well. The authorities say since protesters are present at the power station, it is unlikely that power generation will resume soon.
3. All major routes leading to Tirupati and the famous Tirumala temple have been barricaded by protesters. The police have decided to impose prohibitory orders in the Cyberabad area from tomorrow.
4. But in some relief for the Congress, its state legislators and ministers in the Andhra Pradesh government have decided not to quit office. Instead, they say they will defeat the resolution to create a new Telangana state that was cleared by the Union Cabinet last evening.  The assembly has 294 seats, with 118 for Telangana legislators, and 175 for Seemandhra.
5. That resolution will be sent to the country's President who will then refer it to the state legislature.
6. The Centre has already made it clear that the state assembly's feedback will not be binding.
7. Union minister Chiranjeevi has resigned in protest over the green-light for a Telangana state; another, Pallam Raju, says he will quit today. (Union minister Pallam Raju to resign over Telangana decision)
8. Congress MP L Rajagopal, who is from Vijayawada, has said he will move the Supreme Court challenging the government's decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh, reports the Press Trust of India.
9. Jagan Mohan Reddy, chief of the YSR Congress which has been fighting the plans to split the state, has said that he will begin an indefinite fast from tomorrow. "Is it justifiable to split the state without an assembly resolution? What kind of democracy are we living in when people intentionally choose to ignore the assembly?" he said.
10. Hyderabad will start out as a shared capital for 10 years, after which it will belong to Telangana. Who gets to keep the prosperous IT hub has been a major headline of the controversial decision.