Indian govt. agrees to create new state

HYDERABAD, India, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- The Indian government, bowing to protesters' demands, agreed to carve out a separate state to be called Telangana from its southern Andhra Pradesh state.

K. Chandrasekhar Rao of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti group, who went on an indefinite fast 11 days ago to press his peoples' demands, ended his protest in the state capital of Hyderabad after the government's announcement, the Press Trust of India reported.

Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told Parliament Thursday Rao has been invited to New Delhi to discuss the next steps in the state creation process.

Chidambaram said the government had to take an urgent decision because of the tense situation in Andhra Pradesh created by violent protests in support of Telangana, PTI said.

"I am happy to inform the House that by and large normalcy has been restored in Hyderabad," Chidambaram said.

Rao expressed his thanks to the government for resolving the issue.

Andhra Pradesh, where Telegu is the main language, itself was created in 1953 from what is now the Tamil-speaking Tamil Nadu. Then too, the state came into being after a similar indefinite fast protest.

The current Telangana campaign has been under way for decades as people there complained of neglect by the state and federal governments.

The region currently accounts for 119 of the 294 assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh and 17 of the 42 seats in the Indian parliament, the Times of India reported.

The next immediate question to be decided is the status of Hyderabad. Rao's son told the Times Telangana without Hyderabad is unimaginable.