The Gentlemen's agreement of Andhra Pradesh was signed between Telangana and Andhra leaders before the formation of the state of Andhra Pradesh of India on 20 February 1956. The agreement provided safeguards with the purpose of preventing discrimination against Telangana by the government of Andhra Pradesh. The violations of this agreement are cited as one of the reasons for formation of separate statehood for Telangana. [1]
The Gentlemen's agreement of Andhra Pradesh has a precedent in the Sribagh Pact of 1937 which was between the leaders of Rayalaseema and Coastal Telugu speaking districts of Madras State to provide assurances for Rayalaseema in return for their willingness to join Andhra State. This unbinding pact was largely forgotten probably because of the large political representation the region has had in the state governments since independence.
When the Hyderabad State led by the Nizam of Hyderabad was merged by India in Operation Polo, there was a debate in the Telugu-speaking districts of the Hyderabad State (1948–56) (also known as Telangana), on whether to join the newly formed Andhra State, carved out of Telugu speaking districts of Madras state.
States Reorganisation Commission (SRC), in 1955, recommended that "the Telangana area is to constitute into a separate State, which may be known as the Hyderabad State with provision for its unification with Andhra after the general elections likely to be held in or about 1961 if by a two thirds majority the legislature of the residency Hyderabad State expresses itself in favor of such unification". [2]
Hyderabad Chief minister in his letter to the Congress President said that Communist parties supported the merger for their political calculations. Hyderabad PCC chief said overwhelming majority from Congress party opposed the merger and Communists were elected in special circumstances in 1951 and Visalandhra was not a political issue in 1951 and Assembly does not reflect people's view on this issue. He also said 80% of Congress delegates who were elected in 1955 opposed merger. Government had to provide the additional security for Communist leaders who supported the Visalandhra. [3] The locals agitated against the non-locals in 1952 Mulki Agitation.
In Hyderabad assembly out of 174 MLAs On 3 December 1955, 147 MLAs expressed their view. 103 MLA's (including Marathi and Kannada MLAs) supported the merger, 16 MLAs maintained neutral stand and 29 opposed merger. Among Telangana MLAs, 25 Telangana MLAs disagreed with the merger, 59 Telangana MLAs supported the merger. Out of 94 Telangana MLAs in the assembly, 36 were Communists(PDF), 40 were Congress, 11 were Socialist party(SP), 9 were independents. Voting did not take place on the resolution because Telangana proponents insisted on to including the phrase "As per the wishes of people" in the resolution. [4] [5]
To convince the leadership of Telangana to join the new state, an agreement was reached between the leaders of both sides on 20 February 1956. This came to be known as the Gentlemen's agreement, allowed the formation of the state of Andhra Pradesh in 1956, against the SRC's recommendations.
1. There will be one legislature for the whole of Andhra Pradesh which will be the sole law making body for the entire state and there be one Governor for the State aided and advised by the Council of Ministers responsible to the State Assembly for the entire field of Administration.
2. For the more convenient transaction of the business of Government with regard to some specified matters the Telangana area will be treated as one region.
3. For the Telangana region there will be a Regional Standing Committee of the state assembly consisting of the members of the State Assembly belonging to that region including the Ministers from that region but not including the Chief Minister.
4. Legislation relating to specified matters will be referred to the Regional committee. In respect of specified matters proposals may also be made by the Regional Committee to the State Government for legislation or with regard to the question of general policy not involving any financial commitments other than expenditure of a routine and incidental character.
5. The advice tendered by the Regional Committee will normally be accepted by the Government and the State Legislature. In case of difference of opinion, reference will be made to the Governor whose decision will be binding.
6. The Regional Committee will deal with following matters:
Unless revised by agreement earlier this arrangement will be reviewed after ten years.
B. Domicile Rules : Telangana is regarded as a unit as far as recruitment to subordinate services is concerned; posts borne on the cadre of these services may be reserved for being filled up by persons who satisfy the domicile conditions as prescribed under the existing Hyderabad Mulki Rules. ( 15 years of Stay in Telangana area and in written document(affidavit) saying that he/she won't leave Telangana)
C. The position of Urdu. The Government of India would advise the state Government to take appropriate steps to ensure that the existing position of Urdu in administrative and judicial structure of the State is maintained for a period of five years.
D. Retrenchment of surplus personnel in the new State. The Government of India do not anticipate any retrenchment. The intention is that so far as possible, the service personnel from the Hyderabad State should be automatically integrated into the services of the Andhra Pradesh without any process of screening. Should, however, any retrenchment be found necessary, the entire personnel of the services of the enlarged State will be treated on equal footing.
E. Distribution of expenditure between Telangana and Andhra Regions. Allocation of expenditure with the resources of the state is a matter which falls within the purview of the State Government and the State Legislature.. Since, however, it has been agreed to the representatives of Andhra and Telangana that the expenditure of the new state on central and general administration should be borne proportionately by the two regions and the balance of income should be reserved for expenditure on the development of Telangana area, it is open to the state government to act in accordance with the terms of agreement in making budgetary allocations. The Government of India propose to invite the attention of the Chief Minister of Andhra to this particular understanding and to express the hope that it will be implemented.
F. The existing educational facilities including Technical Education in Telangana should be secured to the students of Telangana and further improved---
G. The cabinet will consist of members in proportion of 60:40 percent for Andhra and Telangana respectively, out of 40% of Telangana ministers, one will be a Muslim from Telangana. If the Chief Minister is from one region the other region should be given Dy Chief Ministership.
| Andhra region [6] | Telangana Region |
|---|---|
| B. Gopal Reddy Chief Minister, Andhra State | B. Rama Krishna Rao Chief Minister, Hyderabad state |
| N. Sanjeeva Reddy | K.V. Ranga Reddy |
| Gouthu Latchanna | M. Chenna Reddy |
| Alluri Satyanarayana Raju | J.V. Narsing Rao |
Telangana is a landlocked state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh-largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India as per 2011 census. On 2 June 2014, the area was separated from the northwestern part of Andhra Pradesh as the newly formed state of Telangana, with Hyderabad as its capital.
Rayalaseema is a geographic region in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It comprises four southern districts of the State prior to districts reorganisation in 2022 namely Kurnool, Anantapur, YSR and Chittoor districts. Four new districts were created from these namely Sri Sathya Sai, Nandyal, Annamayya and Tirupati. As of 2011 census of India, the western four districts of the region had a population of 15,184,908 and covers an area of 71,060 km2 (27,440 sq mi).
The Politics of Andhra Pradesh take place in the context of a bicameral parliamentary system within the Constitutional framework of India. The main parties in the state are the YSR Congress Party, Telugu Desam Party and Jana Sena Party. Other parties that have small presence in the state include the Indian National Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and Left parties.
Andhra State was a state in India created in 1953 from the Telugu-speaking northern districts of Madras State. The state was made up of this two distinct cultural regions – Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra. Andhra State did not include all Telugu-speaking areas, as it excluded some in Hyderabad State. Under the State Reorganisation Act of 1956, Andhra State was merged with the Telugu-speaking regions of Hyderabad State to form Andhra Pradesh.
Marri Chenna Reddy was an Indian politician active in several states. He was the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh from 1978 to 1980 and from 1989 to 1990. He also served as the governor of Uttar Pradesh (1974–1977), governor of Punjab (1982–1983), governor of Rajasthan from February 1992 to May 1993, and governor of Tamil Nadu from 1993 until his death. He was a leader of Indian National Congress Party.
Jalagam Vengal Rao or Jalagam Vengala Rao was for much of his life a member of the Indian National Congress and was the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh which is now divided into two states, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
The recorded history of Andhra Pradesh, one of the 28 states of 21st-century India, begins in the Vedic period. It is mentioned in Sanskrit epics such as the Aitareya Brahmana. Its sixth-century BCE incarnation Assaka lay between the Godavari and Krishna Rivers, one of sixteen mahajanapadas. The Satavahanas succeeded them, built Amaravati, and reached a zenith under Gautamiputra Satakarni.
The States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) constituted by the Central Government of India in December 1953 to recommend the reorganization of state boundaries. In September 1955, after two years of study, the Commission, comprising Justice Fazal Ali, K. M. Panikkar and H. N. Kunzru, submitted its report. The commission's recommendations were accepted with some modifications and implemented in the States Reorganisation Act in November, 1956. The act provided that India's state boundaries should be reorganized to form 14 states and 6 centrally administered territories. On December 10, 1948, the report of Dar Commission was published but the issue remained unsolved.
The Visalandhra,VishalandhraorVishala Andhra was a movement in post-independence India for a united state for all Telugu speakers, a Greater Andhra. This movement was led by the Communist Party of India under the banner of Andhra Mahasabha with a demand to merge all the Telugu-speaking areas into one state.. The movement succeeded and a separate state of Andhra Pradesh was formed by merging Telugu-speaking areas of Hyderabad State with Andhra State on 1 November 1956 as part of the States Reorganisation Act.. However, on 2 June 2014, Telangana State was separated back out of Andhra Pradesh and the Vishalandhra experiment came to an end. The residual Andhra Pradesh now has approximately the same borders as the old Andhra State of 1956.
The Telangana movement refers to a movement for the creation of a separate state, Telangana, from the pre-existing state of Andhra Pradesh in India. The new state corresponds to the Telugu-speaking portions of the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad, which were merged with Andhra Pradesh in 1956, leading to the Mulki Agitations.
Sribagh Pact is an agreement between the political leaders of Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions during the separate Andhra on 16 November 1937. Historically, the Sribagh Agreement has been an important subject matter to the people of the Rayalaseema region regarding developmental issues due to the attitude of the then-Andhra leaders.
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The history of the Telangana movement refers to the political and social conditions under which the Telangana region was merged with Andhra State to form the state of Andhra Pradesh and the subsequent demands to reverse the merger to form a new state of Telangana from united Andhra Pradesh.
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Andhra Pradesh, retrospectively referred to as United Andhra Pradesh,Undivided Andhra Pradesh or Ummadi Andhra Pradesh, was a state in India formed by States Reorganisation Act, 1956 with Hyderabad as its capital and was reorganised by Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. The state was made up of three distinct cultural regions of Telangana, Rayalaseema, and Coastal Andhra. Before the 1956 reorganisation Telangana had been part of Hyderabad State ruled by Nizam of Hyderabad, whereas Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra had been part of Andhra State, formerly a part of Madras Presidency ruled by British India.
The Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Act, 2020 is an act of Andhra Pradesh Legislature aimed at the decentralisation of governance in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The bill was proposed by the Government of Andhra Pradesh to establish three capitals at different places in the state namely Visakhapatnam, Amaravati, and Kurnool, which will serve as executive, legislative and judicial capitals respectively.
